Diagnosis by skin

Parkinson's disease has learned to accurately diagnose by skin

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

Scientists have discovered that the already known biomarker of Parkinson's disease is also present in the skin. Testing of the new approach showed 96% accuracy of such a "superficial" diagnosis. This opens up new opportunities for early detection of an incurable disease.

Today there is no test for early and accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The diagnosis is made on the basis of symptoms and clinical signs. It is known that the disease is characterized by an accumulation of alpha-synuclein proteins in the brain, which leads to damage to neurons. A new study by scientists from The University of Iowa has shown that alpha-synuclein also accumulates in other tissues of the body, including the skin.

Article by Manne et al. Blinded RT‐QuIC Analysis of α‐Synuclein Biomarker in Skin Tissue from Parkinson's Disease Patients is published in the journal Movement Disorders.

These results were obtained after evaluating 50 skin samples from people with Parkinson's disease and patients without neurological diseases. Frozen tissue samples were used as part of the experiment. The test correctly identified 24 out of 25 patients with Parkinson's disease and also 24 out of 25 people without the disease. The sensitivity and specificity of the test was 96%.

"The resulting accuracy of the test is crucial for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in humans," the authors concluded. Despite the fact that the disease remains incurable, earlier detection will allow you to start supportive therapy in time, slowing down the development of the disease.  So far, the authors do not explain how the test is planned to be carried out in people with suspected illness. For now, they need to confirm the accuracy on a larger sample of patients.

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