PARKINSON'S DISEASE NEWS

1st October 2010 - News release

BIOMARKERS FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has launched the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, the first ever large scale clinical study exclusively focused on identifying and validating Parkinson’s Disease biomarkers. A biomarker, is a substance used as an indicator of a biological state such as Parkinson's Disease.  The study will be carried out over five years at 18 sites in the U.S.A. and Europe. It will track 400 people newly diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and 200 who do not. Recruitment is now under way at six sites, with all sites expected to be recruiting by year-end. The study is testing the most promising biomarker candidates through neuroimaging, the collection of blood, urine, and spinal fluid, and clinical and behavioural tests. For more information go to the  News release and to the web page of the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative.

It is claimed that valid measures could allow scientists to predict, objectively diagnose, and monitor diseases as well as definitively determine which medications work and which will not.  It is already known that Parkinson's Disease is primarily due to insufficient dopamine. The assessment of biomarkers for Parkinson's Disease has always proven inadequate for diagnosing Parkinson's Disease because they can not directly measure dopamine formation. Biomarkers are at best only indirect and partial indicators of Parkinson's Disease and so could not provide information concerning dopamine formation, which is already known anyway, and thereby lead to effective treatments. For more current news go to Parkinson's Disease News.

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Parkinson's Disease News details all significant new research, news reports, new books, and new resources concerning Parkinson's Disease and those medical disorders that often coincide with Parkinson's Disease. It is compiled from an analysis of  all newly published research, news reports, new clinical trials, all newly published books, and new web sites. A summary and analysis of the new research are provided,  as well as links to the complete abstracts and news reports