Biomarker Ratio Improves Ability to Distinguish Parkinson's

One of the biggest challenges with Parkinson’s disease is the ability to accurately diagnose it vs. other movement disorders. The way it’s now diagnosed is by just a subjective clinical exam, administered by a neurologist. This is a problem, because a correct diagnosis influences treatment strategies; if the diagnosis is incorrect, that patient might not get the best standard-of-care treatment. A reliable biochemical marker that could be easily obtained and objectively measured – together with a positive clinical exam – would avoid this problem.

This paper represents a first step toward solving the problem of differential diagnosis. The next step will be to look at how these biomarkers might change in the patient over time. This is where the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) comes in, with its goal of identifying biomarkers of Parkinson’s progression. The research of Dr. El-Agnaf and his colleagues, and other teams, is helping us build a cupboard of potential biomarkers that we have at our disposal. Research scientists can go to the PPMI and use the samples and data there to verify their hypotheses and initial findings in a different – and very diverse – population from both the United States and Europe.

We recently announced the launch of the PPMI Data and Biospecimen Request process, which makes the data from recently diagnosed Parkinson’s patients and healthy controls available to researchers. If scientists use the PPMI data, they will be asked to provide annual updates on their analyses. These will then be publicly displayed on the PPMI Web site and integrated back into the database with the goal of rapidly identifying and validating the biomarkers we need.

Mark Frasier, Ph.D. is the director of research programs for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which organizes and funds the PPMI project.