Researchers have developed a groundbreaking blood test that uses artificial intelligence to predict Parkinson’s disease years before symptoms appear.
They aim for this to lead to an affordable, finger-prick test that can provide early diagnoses and aid in finding treatments to slow the disease.
Parkinson’s UK, a charity, has described this development as “a major step forward” in the quest for a non-invasive, patient-friendly test. However, the researchers emphasize that larger trials are necessary to confirm its accuracy.
Parkinson’s disease affects nearly 10 million people worldwide and over 150,000 individuals in the UK.
Many are diagnosed only after symptoms have manifested, such as tremors, movement difficulties, and memory issues—symptoms that arise from the death of nerve cells in the brain’s movement control area.
Currently, there is no cure or treatment to halt or slow the progression of Parkinson’s, though therapies exist to manage its symptoms.
The research team, led by scientists from University College London and University Medical Center Goettingen in Germany, collected blood samples from individuals with Parkinson’s as well as from those without the disease. They identified eight key proteins likely to predict who might develop Parkinson’s.
These biomarkers, which are associated with inflammation and protein degradation, could potentially be used to create new drug treatments for Parkinson’s.
The researchers tested blood from 72 individuals at risk of brain disorders, including Parkinson’s, for these eight proteins and monitored them over a decade.
Using their AI tool, the researchers correctly predicted that 16 of these individuals would develop Parkinson’s—sometimes up to seven years before symptoms emerged.
The test predicted that 79% of the individuals would develop the disease, and the team is continuing to follow up with other patients to verify the test’s accuracy.
Professor Kevin Mills, senior author from UCL’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, remarked, “At present we are shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. We need to start experimental treatments before patients develop symptoms.”
Co-author Dr. Jenny Hällqvist, also from UCL, added, “People are diagnosed when neurons are already lost. We need to protect those neurons, not wait till they are gone.”
Parkinson’s symptoms typically start off mild and progressively worsen. The primary symptoms affecting movement include:
- Shaking, which usually begins in the hand or arm
- Slow movement, such as walking with very small steps
- Stiffness and tension in the muscles, which can hinder movement and facial expressions
In the brain, nerve cells lose their ability to produce dopamine—a chemical crucial for movement—due to the accumulation of a protein called alpha-synuclein.
The researchers plan to develop a simpler test where a drop of blood on a card could be mailed to a lab, aiming to detect Parkinson’s even earlier.
Prof. David Dexter, research director at Parkinson’s UK, which helped fund the study, stated, “The findings add to an exciting flurry of recent activity towards finding a simple way to test for and measure Parkinson’s.”
He also mentioned that the test might differentiate between Parkinson’s and other similar conditions.
Prof. Ray Chaudhuri, a professor of movement disorders and neurology at King’s College Hospital and King’s College London, noted that blood tests for Parkinson’s diagnosis and prediction represent “a massive unmet need,” but questioned the ethical implications given the lack of a cure.
Prof. Michele Vendruscolo, a professor of biophysics at the University of Cambridge, highlighted that the test could be conducted with existing hospital equipment and could facilitate the recruitment of individuals at risk for clinical trials.
“They could be used to monitor the efficacy of experimental therapeutics,” he said.
