Metabolic plasma profiling of mildly affected patients with Parkinson's disease identified 15 biomarkers that strongly predicted disease progression up to two years later, according to a new study published online on February 8 in Neurology.
Previous efforts at identifying biomarkers have focused on PD pathology in the brain, but recent research indicates this scope may be too narrow, since proteins associated with PD, such as alpha-synuclein, have been shown to spread throughout the body. Researchers hypothesized that a metabolomic analysis, which measures "hundreds of low-molecular-weight compounds in biospecimens" may be able to identify biomarkers in plasma that can predict the progression of PD.
The findings yielded several biomarkers strongly capable of predicting PD progression, the study authors, led by Peter A. LeWitt, MD, director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Program at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, MI, and professor of neurology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, wrote. "Having biomarkers could provide insights into sub-types of PD and might be useful in assessing the effectiveness of neuroprotective treatments," Dr. LeWitt said in an interview about the study appearing in the March 2 issue of Neurology Today.
For the study, researchers twice collected concentrated samples of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 49 mildly affected patients with PD: once at baseline and once at a final assessment up to two years later. They used ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography to identify small-molecule plasma constituents in the samples. At baseline and final assessment, the researchers assessed the patients' disease progression using questions from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) parts 2 and 3, which comprise an assessment of daily living activities and motor skills.
The researchers identified 15 baseline plasma constituents with a high positive correlation to changes in parkinsonian severity (0.87 correlation coefficient, p=2.2e-16). However, the CSF samples showed little change between the baseline and final assessments and had minimal correlation with change in UPDRS scores.
The findings, the study authors concluded, "discern a biochemical profile linked to PD progression," although they do not clarify whether the observed markers are manifestations of the disease process. They also imply "several new directions for investigation of PD pathogenesis." For example, one of the biomarkers identified, serine, has neurochemical properties that may pertain to PD and is involved in the synthesis of an antioxidant that is diminished in PD.
Look for expanded coverage of the study in the March 3 issue of Neurology Today.
LINK UP FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- LeWitt PA, Li J, Lu M, et al. Metabolic biomarkers as strong correlates of Parkinson disease progression. Neurology 2017; Epub 2017 Feb 8.
http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/blog/breakingnews/pages/post.aspx?PostID=603
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