Researchers have finally discovered the most significant finding on the possible biomarker of Parkinson's disease. They were struggling in finding a cure so they moved instead in seeking for a way to prevent it and monitor its progress.
The team recruited 63 newly diagnosed with Parkinson's patients and 39 people who don't have the disease. They examined the spinal fluid of each participant in which they found out that their is slight difference between the concentration of proteins associated to the disease.
They also observed different pattern of proteins in people physically affected by the disease. The pattern indicates that different treatment will be needed as there are different symptoms caused by the disease.
"If there really is different biology that predicts different symptoms, you might actually start to be able to segment the population by treatment, which we haven't been able to do in Parkinson's besides using trial and error," said Todd Sherer, chief executive officer of The Michael J. Fox Foundation, a leading funder of Parkinson's research, which supported the study to an interview with the USA Today.
Parkinson's disease symptoms vary from person to person which makes it difficult to treat. Common signs include tremors, slowed movements, muscle rigidity, impaired posture, speech and writing changes.
The study which is part of the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative will conduct another study involving a bigger sample-- 400 patients and 200 healthy volunteers.
The researchers will measure four proteins present in the spinal fluid of each participant: alpha-synuclein and two types of tau, and beta-amyloid. These proteins were previously identified as proteins blocking the brains of the Parkinson's patients. They aim to understand how to better manage these proteins to possibly prevent the disease.
"It's the management of the proteins that goes wrong" in Parkinson's, Isacson said to the USA Today. Those with the lowest levels of amyloid beta and tau were most likely to have a particularly challenging form of the disease — the first time different courses of the disease have been identifiable in the patients' biology."
Once the second trial yields another round of significant results, the researchers plan to do another trial to further establish the Parkinson's biomarker.
