Parkinson’s disease biomarker tagged posts

Andrew West. Credit: UAB

Stored samples of urine and CSF from patients with Parkinson’s disease hold a brand-new type of biomarker – a phosphorylated protein that correlates with the presence and severity of Parkinson’s disease. “Nobody thought we’d be able to measure the activity of this huge protein called LRRK2 in biofluids since it is usually found inside neurons in the brain,” said Prof. West. “New biochemical markers like the one we’ve discovered together with new neuroimaging approaches are going to be the key to successfully stopping Parkinson’s disease in its tracks...