Amazing Science News
Detecting Parkinson's Disease Earlier
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SCIENTISTS AT SOM and Durin Technologies‚ Inc. announced a possible breakthrough in the search for a diagnostic biomarker for Parkinson's disease.
In an analysis that included more than 150 blood samples‚ Robert Nagele‚ PhD‚ professor‚ Medicine and Cell Biology‚ and his team employed human protein microarrays to identify specific autoantibody biomarkers that may be able to identify Parkinson's disease with a high level of accuracy. The findings were published online in PLoS ONE.
Approximately 50‚000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year. Today‚ physicians can only diagnose the disease through medical history‚ patient observation and laboratory tests that rule out other disorders. By the time a diagnosis is made using these methods‚ one–third of the neurons affected by Parkinson's may already be lost.
"Using this diagnostic strategy‚ it may soon be possible and feasible to develop an accurate‚ inexpensive and relatively non–invasive test to detect and diagnose Parkinson's disease‚" Nagele comments.
An investment in Durin Technologies‚ Inc. by the Foundation Venture Capital Group (FVCG)‚ LLC‚ a New Jersey Health Foundation affiliate that invests in start–up companies founded by researchers at UMDNJ‚ provided initial funding for this research. Durin Technologies‚ Inc was founded in 2010 with the goal of developing new diagnostics and therapeutic agents for use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
