HQ Team
May 5, 2025: Scientists have developed a test by studying how an abnormally-shaped protein in the spinal fluid can detect 90% of Parkinson’s disease in patients, even before symptoms appear.
Researchers at the Center for Protein Research PRODI at Ruhr University Bochum, western Germany, and the biotech company betaSENSE discovered the biomarker aSyn through cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients at the Parkinson’s disease center in Bochum.
Alpha-synuclein (αSyn) is a protein normally found in the brain, where it has a certain shape (called α-helical or random-coil structure). In Parkinson’s disease, this protein changes its shape, which is called “misfolding.”
A misfolded protein makes a reliable diagnosis possible even in the early stages of the disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is diagnosed in the late stages primarily based on clinical symptoms, especially motor dysfunction.
Overlapping symptoms
By then, however, the brain is already massively and irreparably damaged. Diagnosis is also difficult and often inaccurate because the disease has multiple manifestations and overlapping symptoms.
A central role in the development of Parkinson’s disease is played by the misfolding of the key protein aSyn.
“These misfoldings make the protein sticky, and larger complexes, so-called oligomers, form, which can then cause long fibrillar threads and ultimately the aggregation of these threads into macroscopically large Lewy bodies in the brain,” explains Prof Dr Klaus Gerwert, Managing Founding Director of PRODI and CEO of betaSENSE.
Indicators of Parkinson’s disease are Lewy bodies in the brain, which consist of aggregates of the misfolded protein aSyn.
Immuno-infrared sensor
This test uses a special technology called an immuno-infrared sensor (iRS) to measure the degree of αSyn misfolding.
Studies involving over 130 participants have shown that aSyn can identify Parkinson’s disease with very high accuracy.
It correctly detects patients (sensitivity) and correctly excludes those without the disease (specificity), well over 90%.
Specifically, the test achieved about 97% sensitivity and 92% specificity in distinguishing Parkinson’s patients from controls in clinical studies.
Dopamine
The unstoppable disease is characterised by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain, which usually leads to increasing motor impairments throughout the disease.
Dopamine supplements can compensate for this loss and thus temporarily alleviate symptoms.
This biomarker test is a promising tool for early diagnosis, better patient stratification, and monitoring disease progression or the effectiveness of the therapy.
The report was published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
