Researchers have developed a simple groundbreaking blood test that could revolutionize the testing of Parkinson’s disease (PD), enabling interventions long before symptoms emerge, resulting in improved patient outcomes.

Current testing for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases only identifies the diseases when most of the relevant neurons have already died, making any kind of effective treatment far too late.

The scientists, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, developed a blood test that quantifies tRFs (transfer RNA fragments) in the blood, focusing on a repetitive RNA sequence that accumulates in Parkinson’s patients and a parallel decline in mitochondrial RNA, which deteriorates as the disease progresses.

By measuring the ratio between these biomarkers, the test offers a highly accurate, non-invasive, rapid and affordable diagnostic tool, providing hope for early interventions and treatments that could change the course of the disease.

The study, which was published in Aging Nature, was led by PhD student Nimrod Madrer under the supervision of Prof. Hermona Soreq at The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University, in collaboration with Dr. Iddo Paldor from the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and Dr. Eyal Soreq from the University of Surrey and the Imperial College London.

In trials involving samples from multiple international cohorts, including the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, the test achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 0.86, significantly outperforming traditional clinical scoring methods.

“This discovery represents a major advancement in our understanding of Parkinson’s disease and offers a simple, minimally-invasive blood test as a tool for early diagnosis,” said Prof. Hermona Soreq. 

“By focusing on tRFs, we’ve opened a new window into the molecular changes that occur in the earliest stages of the disease,” she added.

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system which causes tremors, rigidity, balance and walking issues, anxiety and sleep abnormalities.

It is currently difficult to diagnose, and doctors have to weigh symptoms, family history and other factors to come to a conclusion.

The result is that in most cases, even though some symptoms begin five to 10 years earlier, diagnosis only comes after significant brain damage has occurred, and treatment is too late.

Some 10 million people suffer from PD around the world, and nearly 90,000 people in the US alone are diagnosed with the disease every year. Rates of PD have doubled in the last 25 years.

“This test has the potential to alleviate the uncertainty faced by patients and clinicians, offering a reliable and rapid method to identify the disease in its earliest stages,”said lead researcher, Madrer.

The findings have been published under US Provisional Patent Applications, and large scale diagnostic tests provided broader clinical validation.