JERUSALEM, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have developed a new RNA-based blood test for detecting Parkinson's disease long before symptoms emerge, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) said in a statement on Friday.
Parkinson's is often diagnosed only after significant brain damage has occurred, when most relevant neurons are already lost, underscoring the need for early detection.
The new method, detailed in Nature Aging, measures specific RNA fragments in the blood. It focuses on two key biomarkers: a repetitive RNA sequence that accumulates in Parkinson's patients, and mitochondrial RNA, which declines as the disease progresses.
By measuring the ratio between these fragments, the test can identify the disease in its early stages.
In experiments, the test successfully distinguished pre-symptomatic Parkinson's patients from healthy controls with an accuracy of 86 percent, outperforming current diagnostic methods.
Notably, the study also found that levels of the first type of fragments drop after deep brain stimulation, linking them to disease mechanisms and treatment responses.
The researchers said that this discovery paves the way for early interventions and treatments that could change the course of the disease, potentially improving patient outcomes through timely diagnosis and care.
