With a nasal swab it will be possible to diagnose Parkinson's early before the symptoms and brain damage typical of the disease appear: this is the promise that comes from a study in the journal Brain that in the nose of people at risk of developing the disease are already present decades before onset accumulations of a protein known to be linked to Parkinson's - alpha synuclein.
The study was conducted between Italy and Austria and coordinated by Gianluigi Zanusso of the University of Verona.
Parkinson's, the most common neurodegenerative disease, is characterized by movement problems due to the progressive death of neurons, 'poisoned' by the accumulation of alpha-synuclein. Several experimental drugs are currently being studied that block the formation of alpha-synuclein clusters: the ideal, when these drugs become available, would be to have an early diagnostic test (to be performed in the presymptomatic phase) so as to immediately start the therapies and stop the neural damage of the disease in the bud.
Hence the idea of a non-invasive test based on a nasal swab like that for the coronavirus: in the case of Parkinson's, the swab looks for accumulations of alpha-synuclein in the nose. In this study, the experts performed a nasal swab on 63 healthy subjects but with a sleep disorder known to be associated with the onset of Parkinson's in the years to come; the same swab was performed on 41 patients with Parkinson's and 59 healthy control subjects. Well, 44% of the subjects at risk of Parkinson's, 46% of the Parkinsonians and 10% of the control group tested positive for the swab. Most of the swab-positive subjects also had disturbances in smell, another early sign of Parkinson's.According to experts, the positive swab in 10% of the control group could even indicate that those subjects will also get Parkinson's in the future.
The next step will therefore be to follow the sample under study over time to see who will get sick and validate the swab on a larger group of individuals. (HANDLE).