Progress in early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease

Early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is crucial to effectively slow down the progression of condition. A study, reporting that 181 genes in the blood showed a similar expression trend both in Parkinson’s patients and normal subjects, was published in Journal Biomedical and Environmental Sciences.

So far Parkinson’s can be diagnosed according to medical history and neurological symptoms. At this stage, majority of dopamine cells in the brain have already degenerated. How to diagnose the condition at the possible early stage is very important to slow down the progression of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s.

Scientists in China recently analysed gene expression profiles of Parkinson’s in blood in order to find candidate genes in the blood for its early diagnosis. Using high-throughput cell biology techniques they analysed blood sample from 27 patients with PD and 26 control subjects and found that 181 genes in blood exhibited the similar expression profile trend within PD patients and control subjects. Those genes possess important biological process function and can be potential candidates of serum markers for early diagnosis of Parkinson’s.

The findings of study are promising for the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s. In the future, when the biomarkers can reliably indicate the early symptoms of Parkinson’s early acupuncture treatment to patients may be able to stop or slow down the disease progression, as suggested by the reports of basic and clinic acupuncture studies.

Reference:

Zhang Y et al., Bioinformatics Analysis Raises Candidate Genes in Blood for Early Screening of Parkinson’s Disease. Biomed Environ Sci, 2014; 27(6): 462-465.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24961856