medical breakthrough, A new technology that can help diagnose a disease that affects about 10 million people around the world

A medical breakthrough, A new technology that can help diagnose a disease that affects about 10 million people around the world

Scientists have developed a new technology that could help diagnose Parkinson's disease before symptoms appear, and speed up the search for a treatment.

Diagnosing Parkinson's disease is difficult because there is currently no specific test for the condition. Symptoms vary and many other diseases have similar symptoms, which means that the condition can often be misdiagnosed.

Now US scientists say they have found a way to identify the buildup of abnormal proteins associated with the disease long before symptoms appear. Their findings have been published in The Lancet Neurology.

The research appears to confirm that the method, known as the alphaSyn-SAA seed amplification assay (alphaSyn-SAA), can accurately identify people at risk of developing the disease. The findings could pave the way for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Globally, the prevalence of the condition has doubled in the past 25 years, with as many as 10 million people affected by the disease.

Professor Andrew Sideroff, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and co-lead author of the study, said: 'Identifying an effective biomarker for Parkinson's disease pathogenesis could have profound implications for the way we treat the Parkinson's disease, potentially making it possible for people to be diagnosed. Early, identify the best treatments for different subgroups of patients and speed up clinical trials."

Parkinson's disease is caused by the buildup of abnormal proteins known as alphaSyn or alpha-synuclein throughout the brain and nervous system. This buildup is thought to occur years before physical symptoms such as tremors, slowness of movement or muscle stiffness appear.

The study included 1,123 participants, making it one of the largest studies to date to evaluate the benefit of alphaSyn-SAA technology.

The group included individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, those at risk with GBA and LRRK2 genetic variants associated with the condition, and prodromal individuals, those who show early non-motor symptoms such as sleep disturbance or loss of smell.

The technique involved taking samples of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord from each study participant and then analyzing the sample in a laboratory to look for alpha-synuclein.

The test amplifies very small amounts of these proteins, a pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, that they can be detected using standard laboratory techniques.

The study confirmed that this technology can not only accurately detect people with Parkinson's disease, but also indicated that it may be able to identify high-risk individuals and those with early non-motor symptoms before they are diagnosed.