Summary: A newly published study details a Parkinson’s disease (PD) biomarker panel that successfully combines N-acetylputrescine with specific clinical features as a predictor of PD.

Takeaways:

  1. The research introduces N-acetylputrescine as a novel biomarker for Parkinson’s disease, which, when combined with symptoms like loss of smell, depression, and nightmares, can enhance diagnostic accuracy.
  2. The study observed that a simple blood draw is a big step towards improving PD diagnosis and making screening easier
  3. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, PD affects nearly 6 million people worldwide and nearly 1 million people in the United States.

BPGbio, a leading biology-first AI-powered biopharma that focuses on oncology, neurology, and rare diseases, announced the publication of a significant, multi-year research effort titled “Identification and validation of N-acetylputrescine in combination with non-canonical clinical features as a Parkinson’s disease biomarker panel” in Scientific Reports.

Identifying and Diagnosing Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disease, which occurs when brain cells in a particular brain region that make dopamine, a chemical that coordinates movement, stop functioning or die. By the time motor symptoms appear, 60-80% of dopamine cells are already lost. PD is difficult to diagnose and often relies upon clinical judgment, sometimes aided by imaging, after the clinician has ruled out other potential causes of patient symptoms. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, PD affects nearly 6 million people worldwide and nearly 1 million people in the United States. Early identification and treatment would improve long term outcomes for patients.

Diagnostic Biomarker Panel for Parkinson’s

BPGbio researchers built their systems biology model using patient samples from nearly 400 individuals collected in a prospective clinical trial by renowned Parkinson’s disease researchers William Langston, MD, and Birgitt Scheule, MD, at the Parkinson’s Institute. 

Using BPGbio’s NAi Interrogative Biology platform, the BPGbio team identified and developed a CLIA-validated test for measurement of N-acetylputrescine, a novel biomarker for PD, and studied its use in combination with specific clinical features – sense of smell, depression and nightmare – as a predictor of PD. The paper details how the assessed diagnostic panel using patients’ plasma in combination with these specific clinical features significantly enhances the accuracy of PD diagnosis and improves risk assessment for PD, thus validating the utility of this new biomarker.

“Our findings offer a promising new avenue for early and more accurate risk assessment of PD by helping clinicians understand patients’ trajectory toward PD to enable intervention in earlier stages of the disease,” says Michael A. Kiebish, PhD, lead investigator of the research and VP of Platform and Translational Sciences at BPGbio. “Additionally, a simple blood draw is a big step towards improving PD diagnosis and making screening easier for clinicians and their patients.”

Further reading: Scientists Develop AI Tool to Predict Parkinson’s Onset

“PD is a very common condition and only about 10% of cases are highly genetic,” says Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and scientific advisory board member of BPGbio. “There are currently no effective tools available today to diagnose PD before motor symptoms appear. This novel biomarker panel from BPGbio offers the potential to address this unmet need.”