2023-12-23 08:05:58
▲ Research results have shown that a new blood test has been developed that can help diagnose Parkinson’s disease early before major symptoms occur. (Photo = DB)
[메디컬투데이=최재백 기자] A new blood test has been developed to help diagnose Parkinson’s disease early before major symptoms occur.
The results of a study on the development of a new blood test that can help diagnose Parkinson’s disease early before major symptoms occur were published in the journal JAMA Neurology.
Symptoms typical of Parkinson’s disease sometimes do not appear immediately and may be mistaken for other diseases or not diagnosed until a clear diagnosis is made.
Patients who do not recognize the disease until the main symptoms appear and who come to the hospital late may have already lost more than 60% of their dopamine-producing cells, and neurodegeneration has progressed extensively, making it difficult to restore the neural network. there is. Therefore, if Parkinson’s disease pathology can be detected early before the timing is lost, more effective treatment can be achieved.
Recently, a research team at the University of Oxford developed a new blood test that detects alpha-synuclein protein in the blood, which is involved in the development of Parkinson’s disease. Alpha-synuclein is a sticky protein, and in blood, 99% of it originates from peripheral elements such as red blood cells.
As such, alpha-synuclein in the blood has little relevance to the pathogenesis of the disease, and due to its sticky nature, it is difficult to isolate only the disease-related part without contamination, so the method of directly measuring alpha-synuclein in the blood was considered to be less useful as a biomarker. .
The research team explained that they were able to measure alpha-synuclein content by developing a blood test method that extracts extracellular vesicles from nerve cells circulating in the blood.
They allow antibodies to bind to non-stick magnetic beads, and then, when extracellular vesicles from blood neurons bind to the antibody-beads, they use magnets to separate them from other blood proteins and free alpha-synuclein with minimal contamination. He said that only the alpha-synuclein associated with the disease can be measured.
They tested the new blood test on 365 people – 282 healthy controls and 71 patients with hereditary or sporadic Parkinson’s disease – and found that their blood alpha-synuclein levels doubled, putting them at a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in the future (over 80%). It was confirmed that it exists.
Furthermore, they added that the blood test was able to accurately distinguish the low-risk group, or healthy control group, from the high-risk group, which had a greater than 90% risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
Experts evaluated that if early clinical diagnosis is possible with the newly developed blood test, it will be possible to improve the quality of life of patients by performing procedures in a timely manner and slowing the progression of the disease.
[ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
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#Development #blood #test #early #diagnosis #Parkinsons #disease #symptoms
