Measuring Neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s Disease

Nearly 90,000 people in the US are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, with the primary risk factor being age. 

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain, causing movement issues such as tremor and stiffness.  

People with Parkinson’s disease can also experience physical symptoms, including nerve pain and loss of smell, as well as cognitive impairment. 

The link between Parkinson’s and inflammation 

Chronic inflammation has been linked to the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. In Parkinson’s disease, alpha-synuclein misfolding, mitochondrial dysfunction, polymorphisms in immune genes, and the gut–brain axis have been suggested as potential triggers for inflammation.  

Cytokines can modulate both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects and are noted to be major contributors to neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease.  

In response to various pathways, including oxidative stress and blood–brain barrier disruption, increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines recruit glial and peripheral immune cells to injury sites in the brain, promoting neuroinflammation. Cytokines can also directly cause neuronal damage.  

These pathological changes contribute to alpha-synuclein aggregation and, eventually, the loss of dopaminergic neurons. 

“Targeting this inflammatory axis unlocks new opportunities for early diagnostic biomarkers and guides the development of personalized, disease-modifying therapies,” Dr. Guozhen Liu, professor of biomedical engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, told Technology Networks.  

Creating a CRISPR/Cas biosensor 

“CRISPR/Cas biosensors are capable of detecting various inflammatory biomarkers with high specificity and sensitivity,” Liu said. “This approach aligns perfectly with the understanding of Parkinson’s disease as a dynamic, immune-mediated process.” 

“The ultimate draw is the possibility of turning neuroinflammation from a pathological mystery into a clinical variable we can actively manage.” 

Liu and her team created a CRISPR/Cas biosensing platform that detects proteins, such as cytokines and alpha-synuclein, and converts them into a CRISPR-readable DNA signal. 

“An antibody-DNA conjugate binds the target cytokine, releasing a DNA activator that triggers a Cas enzyme to produce a fluorescent signal,” she explained. “Our CRISPR/Cas biosensing platform can profile multiple cytokines and alpha-synuclein in neuro-derived extracellular vehicles for biomarker discovery of Parkinson’s disease.” 

Intelligent devices overcome CRISPR challenges 

Using CRISPR-based technologies for diagnostics faces several challenges, including an inadequate detection limit for low-abundance biomarkers.  For point-of-care applications in particular, portability and automation form bottlenecks, and multiplexing is also associated with increased complexity that could challenge these platforms. 

“Our intelligent device platform is designed to overcome key challenges in CRISPR/Cas biosensing from three aspects: one, eliminating amplification steps to achieve ultra-high sensitivity; two, integrating biosensors with microfluidics for portable, multiplexed, point-of-care diagnostics, and three, coupling with novel transducers to enable real-time, in vivo monitoring,” said Liu. 

Combining nanomaterials and CRISPR biosensing 

At Pittcon 2026, Liu will discuss a strategic roadmap for evolving CRISPR/Cas into a universal sensing platform that can detect diverse analytes, from nucleic acids to proteins and small molecules.  

Liu told Technology Networks: “I will discuss how we are integrating cutting-edge nanomaterials, including liquid metal interfaces, with synthetic biology to create a new generation of CRISPR-biohybrid systems, pushing the limits of sensitivity and opening unprecedented avenues for in vitro and in vivo diagnostics.”