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News break7/21/2023 ![]() Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research that has resulted in the clearest evidence yet that the presence of a particular misfolded protein, alpha-synuclein, can be used to determine if people have Parkinson’s. Its significance as a milestone in the pursuit of a cure and better treatments and therapies for Parkinson’s is highlighted in an article today on leading health and science news website STAT, which stated “The trophy is science - and specifically research funded by the Michael J. The biomarker breakthrough was achieved by an international coalition of scientists led by MJFF and its landmark clinical study, Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). “We've never previously been able to see in a living person whether they have this alpha-synuclein biological change happening in their body,” says Todd Sherer, PhD, chief mission officer, The Michael J. The assay can confirm the presence of abnormal alpha-synuclein, detected in most people with PD, with astonishing accuracy: 93 percent of people with Parkinson’s who participated in the assay were proven to have abnormal alpha-synuclein. The tool, called the α-synuclein seeding amplification assay (αSyn-SAA), can detect pathology in spinal fluid not only of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but also in individuals who have not yet been diagnosed or shown clinical symptoms of the disease, but are at a high risk of developing it. The breakthrough, announced last night as it was published in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology, opens a new chapter for research, with the promise of a future where every person living with Parkinson’s can expect improved care and treatments - and newly diagnosed individuals may never advance to full-blown symptoms. In an enormous leap forward in the understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD), researchers have discovered a new tool that can reveal a key pathology of the disease: abnormal alpha-synuclein - known as the “Parkinson’s protein” - in brain and body cells.
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