New Delhi: A "simple" blood test can detect Parkinson's disease up to seven years before symptoms appear, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder whose symptoms include tremors, slowed movement, and memory problems.
Using machine learning, researchers analyzed blood samples from 72 patients with rapid eye movement behavior disorder (IRBD), in which they physically act out their dreams without realizing it.
Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that learns from past data to predict the future.
The team of researchers, led by researchers at University College London, UK, said it is known that about 75-80 percent of people with IRBD develop an abnormal buildup of alpha-synuclein protein in the brain – also seen in people with Parkinson's disease. Is.Analyzing blood samples, the machine learning tool developed by the researchers found that about 80 percent of the 72 iRBD patients had a profile similar to that of a person with the aging-related neurodegenerative disease.
The researchers also tested the tool to see whether it could predict the likelihood of a patient developing Parkinson's. For this, IRBD patients were monitored for ten years.
The researchers found that the tool correctly predicted the development of the neurodegenerative condition in 16 patients and could do so up to seven years before the onset of any symptoms.
"By determining eight proteins in the blood, we can identify potential Parkinson's patients several years earlier."This means that drug treatment can potentially be given at an earlier stage, potentially slowing the progression of the disease or even preventing it from occurring," he said. First author Michael Bartl, University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder whose symptoms include tremors, slowed movement, and memory problems.
Using machine learning, researchers analyzed blood samples from 72 patients with rapid eye movement behavior disorder (IRBD), in which they physically act out their dreams without realizing it.
Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that learns from past data to predict the future.
The team of researchers, led by researchers at University College London, UK, said it is known that about 75-80 percent of people with IRBD develop an abnormal buildup of alpha-synuclein protein in the brain – also seen in people with Parkinson's disease. Is.Analyzing blood samples, the machine learning tool developed by the researchers found that about 80 percent of the 72 iRBD patients had a profile similar to that of a person with the aging-related neurodegenerative disease.
The researchers also tested the tool to see whether it could predict the likelihood of a patient developing Parkinson's. For this, IRBD patients were monitored for ten years.
The researchers found that the tool correctly predicted the development of the neurodegenerative condition in 16 patients and could do so up to seven years before the onset of any symptoms.
"By determining eight proteins in the blood, we can identify potential Parkinson's patients several years earlier."This means that drug treatment can potentially be given at an earlier stage, potentially slowing the progression of the disease or even preventing it from occurring," he said. First author Michael Bartl, University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany.
