Advances in Biomarker Research in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, and the numbers are projected to double in the next two decades with the increase in the aging population. An important focus of current research is to develop interventions to slow the progression of the disease. However, prerequisites to it include the development of reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis which would identify at-risk groups and disease progression. In this review, we present updated evidence of already known clinical biomarkers (such as hyposmia and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD)) and neuroimaging biomarkers, as well as newer possible markers in the blood, CSF, and other tissues. While several promising candidates and methods to assess these biomarkers are on the horizon, it is becoming increasingly clear that no one candidate will clearly fulfill all the roles as a single biomarker. A multimodal and combinatorial approach to develop a battery of biomarkers will likely be necessary in the future.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Dopaminergic imaging; Parkinson’s disease; Transcranial ultrasound; α-synuclein.