New breakthrough technique may lead to early diagnosis of Parkinson's

US researchers have developed a breakthrough technique that is a gamechanger in identifying the buildup of abnormal protein deposits linked to Parkinsons disease an advance that could aid in early diagnosis and may one day also pave the way for treatmentThe findings published in The Lancet Neurology journal confirm that the technique known as Alphasynuclein seed amplification assay Alpha SynSAA can accurately detect people with the neurodegenerative disease and suggest it can identify atrisk individuals and those with early nonmotor symptoms prior to diagnosisThe presence of misfolded Alphasynuclein protein aggregates in the brain is the pathological hallmark of Parkinsons diseaseThe study suggests that the AlphaSynSAA technique is highly accurate at detecting the biomarker for Parkinsons regardless of the clinical features making it possible to accurately diagnose the disease in patients at early stagesMoreover the results also indicate that misfolded Alphasynuclein is detectable before dopaminergic damage in the brain is about to be observed by imaging suggesting ubiquitous spread of these misfolded proteins before substantial neuronal damage has occurredIdentifying an effective biomarker for Parkinsons disease pathology could have profound implications for the way we treat the condition potentially making it possible to diagnose people earlier identify the best treatments for different subsets of patients and speed up clinical trials said Professor Andrew Siderowf of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine USThe technique was assessed among the 1123 participants with a diagnosis of Parkinsons disease and atrisk people with gene variants GBA and LRRK2 linked to the conditionThe study also included prodromal participants who showed nonmotor symptoms like sleep disturbance or loss of smell which can be early signs of Parkinsons diseaseSamples of cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord from each participant were analysed using AlphaSynSAAFindings of the analyses confirm that AlphaSynSAA identifies people with Parkinsons disease with high accuracy with positive results in 88 per cent of all participants with a diagnosis combining sporadic and genetic casesIn sporadic cases those with no known genetic cause 93 per cent of individuals had a positive result However it varied for people with genetic forms of Parkinsons disease with 96 per cent of those with the GBA variant having a positive AlphaSynSAA compared with 68 per cent of those with LRRK2The clinical feature that most strongly predicted a positive AlphaSynSAA result was loss of smell one of the most common symptoms in prodromal people and those with a Parkinsons disease diagnosis Among all participants with Parkinsons disease who had loss of smell 97 per cent had positive AlphaSynSAA compared to 63 per cent of those whose sense of smell was unchangedWhile to harness the full potential of AlphaSynSAA the researchers said blood tests will need to be developed yet AlphaSynSAA is a gamechanger in Parkinsons disease diagnostics research and treatment trialsAlso ReadCovid patients blood plasma may predict severity death StudyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever