Could Salivary Biomarkers Define Parkinson’s Disease Progression?

Clinicians need simple, cheap, practical, and rapid biomarker tests capable of capturing disease progression in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Possible attractive alternatives to tests requiring use of a spinal tap are those using salivary biomarkers targeting different molecular pathways — e.g., alpha-synuclein, tau, the autophagy protein microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 beta (MAPLC3-beta), and inflammation markers such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). Researchers conducted a clinical and molecular study examining salivary biomarkers over 4 years in 43 people with PD who were followed from diagnosis and in 40 healthy people.