Parkinson's Research Reveals Promise of Early Detection
18 September 2024
Results of an Israeli scientific study has added hope to contributing to finding a cure for Parkinson's Disease. Looking at protein aggregation in skin cells, which are known to be common with the disease, may lead to detection up to twenty years earlier. This is before the symptoms appear, which is how most Parkinson's cases are currently discovered.
Prof. Uri Ashery and Ph.D. candidate Ofir Sade, Tel Aviv University, are using high-powered microscopy, along with a machine learning detection to discover cellular death in biopsy material from known Parkinson's patients, then comparing it with healthy volunteers. Their findings point to the factors causing cellular death, which can be present years earlier, and if discovered, could lead to preventive intervention.
It is hoped that this could lead to discovering factors leading to other debilitating diseases, including Alzheimer's.
To access the journal publication, use this link:
Ofir Sade et al, A novel super-resolution microscopy platform for cutaneous alpha-synuclein detection in Parkinson's disease, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1431549
