Giant strides for prevention Parkinson’s disease: some scientists from the University College of London, from the Goettingen Medical Center but with Italy present thanks to the University of Bologna and the Institute of Neurological Sciences of the Emilian capital have developed a blood test capable of “predicting” the onset of the disease seven years in advance.
I study
The details of this very important research are published on Nature Communications where the use of artificial intelligence is explained, capable of predicting the neurodegenerative disease which today affects approximately 10 million people in the world. They have been analyzed in detail 72 blood samples in people with REM sleep problems, among those most exposed to developing Parkinson’s. The test highlighted that in 79% of the cases the profile of a person suffering from the disease but without them having the slightest symptoms was identifiable. These patients were followed for 10 years: the scientists accurately predicted that 16 of them would have Parkinson’s seven years earlier the appearance of any symptoms.
How the discovery happens
The tests are not finished as scientists are also following other patients to understand how reliable the new test is. “Thanks to eight proteins in the blood we can identify potential Parkinson’s patients several years in advance. This means that drug therapies could be administered at an earlier stage, which could slow the progression of the disease or even prevent it from appearing“said one of the first authors of the study, Michael Bart, of the University Medical Center.
The new implications
Thanks to this test it is possible to detect the disease with blood markers “directly linked to processes such as inflammation and the degradation of non-functional proteins. So, these markers also represent possible targets for new pharmacological treatments“, added Prof. Kailash Bhatia of University College. With his team he is analyzing how reliable the new tests on samples of people more susceptible to development of Parkinson’s, that is, in those who have particular genetic mutations. The researchers are hoping for new funding so as to make available a even simpler test which, through a single drop of blood, can send tests to the laboratory and obtain reliable results.
For those suffering from Parkinson’s, thanks to current treatments, hand tremors, movements and problems relating to the hand can be controlled memory. All this, however, is not enough since there is no definitive cure: the aim of these scientists is to find an even more suitable diagnosis thanks to all the time available if the predisposition to the disease discovered many years earlier.
“As new therapies for Parkinson’s become available, we need to diagnose patients with the disease before they develop symptoms“explained the senior author of the study, Kevin Mills. Since they cannot regrow brain cells “we need to protect the ones we have“.
