{"id":55658,"date":"2025-04-27T20:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T20:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/55658\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T20:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T20:36:10","slug":"new-biomarker-enables-early-accurate-diagnosis-of-parkinsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/55658\/","title":{"rendered":"New Biomarker Enables Early, Accurate Diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary: <\/strong>Researchers have identified a biomarker in spinal fluid that can detect Parkinson\u2019s disease in its early stages with over 90% accuracy. Using a patented immuno-infrared sensor (iRS) technology, they measured the misfolding of the alpha-synuclein (\u03b1Syn) protein, a key driver of the disease.<\/p>\n<p>Early diagnosis is crucial, as clinical symptoms usually appear only after severe and irreversible brain damage. Beyond diagnosis, the platform could also accelerate the development and validation of new Parkinson\u2019s therapies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Early Detection:<\/strong> Misfolded alpha-synuclein (\u03b1Syn) in spinal fluid predicts Parkinson\u2019s with over 90% sensitivity and specificity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advanced Technology:<\/strong> The iRS platform detects protein misfolding, a method also validated in Alzheimer\u2019s diagnostics.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Therapeutic Potential:<\/strong> The biomarker may aid in developing and testing new Parkinson\u2019s treatments by monitoring disease progression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>RUB<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parkinson\u2019s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is usually diagnosed in its late stage on the basis of clinical symptoms, mainly motor disorders. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By this point, however, the brain is already severely and irreparably damaged. Moreover, diagnosis is difficult and often incorrect because the disease takes many forms and symptoms overlap with other disorders.<\/p>\n<p>  <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/parkinsons-biomarkers-new-neuroscience.jpg\" alt=\"This shows a brain.\"  \/> Dopamine supplements can compensate for the loss and temporarily alleviate the symptoms. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p>Researchers from the PRODI Center for Protein Diagnostics at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and the biotech company betaSENSE have now discovered a biomarker in the spinal fluid that facilitates a reliable diagnosis at an early stage and can shed light on the progression of the disease and the effect of a therapy.<\/p>\n<p>They report their findings in the journal\u00a0EMBO Molecular Medicine\u00a0on April 25, 2025.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parkinson\u2019s disease \u2013 an unstoppable condition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parkinson\u2019s disease is characterized by the loss of dopaminergic nerve cells in the brain, which usually leads to increasing motor impairments as the symptoms progress. Dopamine supplements can compensate for the loss and temporarily alleviate the symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The misfolding of the key protein alpha-synuclein (\u03b1Syn) from \u03b1-helical structures to \u03b2-sheet-rich structures plays a crucial role in the development of Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese misfoldings make the protein sticky, leading to the formation of larger complexes, so-called oligomers. The oligomers then produce long fibrillar filaments and cause the aggregation of these filaments into macroscopically large Lewy bodies in the brain,\u201d explains Professor Klaus Gerwert, founding and managing director at PRODI and CEO of betaSENSE.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advanced platform technology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In two independent clinical cohorts with a total of 134 participants, the Bochum-based researchers showed that, with a sensitivity and specificity of well over 90 percent, this misfolding of \u03b1Syn in body-fluids is a viable biomarker for the diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>The research was conducted using cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients at the Parkinson\u2019s centers in Bochum (St. Josef Hospital, Professor Lars T\u00f6nges, Professor Ralf Gold) and Kassel (Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Dr. Sandrina Weber, Professor Brit Mollenhauer).<\/p>\n<p>The measurements were carried out using the patented iRS (immuno-infrared sensor) technology from betaSENSE GmbH.<\/p>\n<p>betaSENSE has already successfully implemented the iRS technology for diagnosing Alzheimer\u2019s disease. In this case, it was shown that the misfolding of the biomarker A\u03b2 can indicate the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s dementia at a later stage with high accuracy up to 17 years before clinical diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have now transferred this approach to Parkinson\u2019s for the misfolding of \u03b1Syn,\u201d stresses Klaus Gerwert.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Development of Parkinson\u2019s drugs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition to diagnostic applications, the technology can also help to develop new active substances and prove their efficacy in clinical trials.<\/p>\n<p>About this Parkinson\u2019s disease research news<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/neurosciencenews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#81ebf4ede8e0aff6e4e8ede4f3c1f3f4e3afe5e4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Julia Weiler<\/a><br \/><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rub.de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RUB<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact: <\/strong>Julia Weiler \u2013 RUB<br \/><strong>Image: <\/strong>The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Original Research: <\/strong>Open access.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1038\/s44321-025-00229-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alpha-synuclein Misfolding as Fluid Biomarker for Parkinson\u2019s Disease Measured with the iRS Platform<\/a>\u201d by Klaus Gerwert et al. EMBO Molecular Medicine<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alpha-synuclein Misfolding as Fluid Biomarker for Parkinson\u2019s Disease Measured with the iRS Platform<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (\u03b1Syn) play a key role in the pathophysiology of Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD). Despite considerable advances in diagnostics, an early and differential diagnosis of PD still represents a major challenge.<\/p>\n<p>We innovated the immuno-infrared sensor (iRS) platform for measuring \u03b1Syn misfolding. We analyzed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from two cohorts comprising PD cases, atypical Parkinsonian disorders, and disease controls.<\/p>\n<p>We obtained an AUC of 0.90 (n\u2009=\u2009134, 95% CI 0.85\u20130.96) for separating PD\/MSA from controls by determination of the \u03b1Syn misfolding by iRS. Using two thresholds divided individuals as unaffected\/affected by misfolding with an intermediate area in between.<\/p>\n<p>Comparing the affected\/unaffected cases, controls versus PD\/MSA cases were classified with 97% sensitivity and 92% specificity.<\/p>\n<p>The spectral data revealed misfolding from an \u03b1-helical\/random-coil \u03b1Syn in controls to \u03b2-sheet enriched \u03b1Syn in PD and MSA cases. Moreover, a first subgroup analysis implied the potential for patient stratification in clinically overlapping cases.<\/p>\n<p>The iRS, directly measuring all \u03b1Syn conformers, is complementary to the \u03b1Syn seed-amplification assays (SAAs), which however only amplify seeding competent conformers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: Researchers have identified a biomarker in spinal fluid that can detect Parkinson\u2019s disease in its early stages&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[215,267,105,219,233,11365,23708,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-55658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain-research","9":"tag-genetics","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-neurobiology","12":"tag-neurology","13":"tag-parkinsons-disease","14":"tag-rub","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114411849834440911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}