Is the Answer to Parkinson Diagnosis in Combining Salivary Biomarkers?

A small study suggests that certain combinations of markers differentiate patients with PD from healthy controls with high accuracy.

Whether using a combined biomarker panel may increase diagnostic accuracy in Parkinson disease (PD) is an open question. Researchers have now examined the “markers” of alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), tau, autophagy, and inflammation and then studied them in combination. They applied quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to 80 patients diagnosed with PD within 2 years (yet to start levodopa) and 62 controls. The assays measured oligomeric α-synuclein, total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau), microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 beta (MAP-LC3beta), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha).

Oligomeric α-synuclein, t-tau, MAP-LC3beta, and TNF-alpha levels were significantly higher in the PD group than in controls. Both t…

Reviewing Author

Michael S. Okun, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardParkinson’s Foundation; Tourette Association of America

Speaker’s BureauMedscape/WebMD CME, Movement Disorders Society CME, American Academy of Neurology CME

RoyaltiesBooks4Patients; Demos; Cambridge; Taylor and Francis; Robert Rose; Public Affairs

Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health; Parkinson’s Foundation; Tourette Association of America; University of Florida Foundation

Editorial BoardsTremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements; JAMA Neurology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesParkinson’s Foundation (Medical Advisor)