A blood test predicts Parkinson's seven years before motor symptoms start

2024/06/18 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Medikuntza

Through a blood test they manage to predict Parkinson's seven years before the onset of motor symptoms. The key is in all eight levels of protein and can be important to better treat the disease. The research has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Before starting motor symptoms in Parkinson's, there are other symptoms such as REM sleep disorder. In fact, this study has looked for markers that can be used to predict the disease at that time. For this purpose, blood samples were analyzed from 99 people diagnosed with disease, 72 people with RA but without motor symptoms and 36 healthy people.

And they used an machine learning model for diagnosis based on the protein composition of the blood. The model identified 100% of the patients from eight proteins. And he was able to predict, with 79 percent accuracy, the development of the disease by those suffering from ADR, 7 years before the onset of motor symptoms.

Researchers have emphasized that early detection of Parkinson's may be important to improve treatment possibilities and that the markers identified, related to inflammation and protein degradation, could be targets for the generation of new drugs.