Blood test to diagnose Parkinson's

A simple test to diagnose Parkinson's disease (PD) before symptoms appear by measuring the levels of a protein in blood is being developed by researchers from the Howard Florey Institute, The University of Melbourne and The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria.

Florey researchers have also created a genetic test for PD, but this new test has a broader application. It screens for many different types of PD and monitoring treatment, as well as measuring the effectiveness of drugs being developed to treat the disease.

Dr Qiao-Xin Li and colleagues from The University of Melbourne and The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, along with Professor Malcolm Horne from the Howard Florey Institute, found people with PD had low levels of the brain-secreted protein "alpha-synuclein' in their blood, while people without PD had high levels of the protein.

Horne said the test they developed measured alpha-synuclein levels in blood.

"Currently, there is no specific PD diagnostic test so doctors rely on their observations to make a diagnosis, which means some patients may not be prescribed the most suitable medication and around 15% of those diagnosed may actually be suffering from something else," Horne said.

"Further studies are required to establish whether this test can distinguish between people who are responsive to treatment and those who are not," Horne said. "Further research using this test will also help us better understand the many different forms of PD and work towards ways to prevent or delay the disease."

The researchers are now conducting a large-scale study to determine the effectiveness of the test, to discover whether it is applicable for all types of PD, and to find out if it can measure the rate of progression and severity of the disease.