First Blood Test to Determine Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Developed

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via Alzheimer's Daily News

First Blood Test to Determine Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Developed

(Source: Penn Medicine) - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School

Of Medicine's Udall Center for Parkinson's Research have developed the first

blood-based biomarker test to predict cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease

(PD). If results can be replicated and standardized in other Parkinson patients,

by other investigators, the test could be a useful tool to use in selecting

patients for the development of new drugs that can slow or prevent this

complication of the disease.

After searching through a hundred different proteins found in blood plasma,

researchers found that epidermal growth factor (EGF), a protein involved in

regulating cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation, provided a strong

biomarker signal for cognitive impairment in PD. The study determined that PD

patients with low EGF levels and normal cognition were more likely to

subsequently develop serious cognitive impairments during the 21-month median

follow-up period.

" As a PD doctor, I hear all the time that my patients want to know whether their

disease will progress rapidly, and if they'll have the type of Parkinson's where

they get dementia, " said Dr. Alice Chen-Plotkin, the study's lead author. " If

other studies verify these results, measuring EGF levels may be useful both as a

clinical diagnostic tool and in the design of trials aimed at preserving

cognition in Parkinson's disease. "

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http://tinyurl.com/28fedm9