NIH Launches Collaborative Effort to Find Biomarkers for Parkinson's
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A new initiative aims to accelerate the search for biomarkers - changes in the body that can be used to predict, diagnose or monitor a disease - in Parkinson's disease, in part by improving collaboration among researchers and helping patients get involved in clinical studies.
A lack of biomarkers for Parkinson's has been a major challenge for developing better treatments.
The Parkinson’s Disease Biomarkers Program (PDBP) supports efforts to invent new technologies and analysis tools for biomarker discovery, to identify and validate biomarkers in patients, and to share biomarker data and resources across the Parkinson's community.
The program is being launched by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Biomarkers can include changes in body chemistry or physiology, in genes and how they are regulated, and even subtle changes in a person's behavior.
For example, certain antibodies in the blood can be biomarkers for different types of infection. For Parkinson's, there are no proven biomarkers.
Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder that affects about 1 million people in the United States. Symptoms of the disease get worse over time, and include uncontrollable shaking, rigidity, slowed movements and impaired balance.
Inside the brain, there is a progressive loss of cells in a motor control region called the substantia nigra, and an accumulation of protein-filled structures called Lewy bodies. Lewy bodies and other telltale signs cannot be observed until after death.
Biomarkers could be used to detect and monitor the disease much earlier, perhaps even before symptoms appear. This could improve the success of existing therapies and help researchers test new ones in clinical trials.
The range of potential biomarkers for Parkinson's is vast, and there have been promising leads. Some researchers are investigating the use of non-invasive imaging to detect changes in brain function or biochemistry.
Several studies have tentatively linked the disease with changes in proteins or other molecules in blood, urine, or in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that bathes the brain and spinal cord. PDBP is an initiative to fund and coordinate multiple biomarker studies.
“Our goal is to accelerate progress toward a robust set of biomarkers for Parkinson's disease by supporting researchers who have strong leads or innovative approaches, bringing them together, and making it easier for them to share and analyze data across studies,” said NINDS director Story Landis, Ph.D.
