Parkinson, a degenerative disease that affects more than 6 million people worldwide. Generally, it is diagnosed when significant motor changes occur or the neurological lesions are already strongly present. Would there be a little hope to delay the disease and take care of patients earlier? In any case, this is what the European Research Council (ERC) has just attributed to Professor Paul Wilmes a scholarship on this subject called “Proof of Concept”.
Its goal: to study if “small proteins produced by certain microbes present in the intestine could serve as biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease”, reports the UNI press release.
A new revolutionary discovery made by LIH on the immune system
“Within the framework of the Expobiome project, funded by a Consolidator scholarship of the ERC, we discovered that certain small proteins produced by the intestinal microbiota can trigger the aggregation of the a synuclein characteristic of Parkinson’s disease,” said Professor Wilmes, head of the Systems Ecology team at LCSB.
Detect at an early stage
Ultimately, researchers would like to be able to measure the concentration of these small microbial proteins in fecal or bloody samples to detect people “at an early stage” of the disease.
And this scholarship will allow them to “refine their method” and make analyzes on blood samples and patients of patients, but also “people with sleep disorder which often corresponds to an early stage of Parkinson’s disease” but also healthy volunteers.
Additional funds for research on Parkinson in Luxembourg
If the presence of these microbial proteins in the blood and the stools of people at risk were to be confirmed, then a first non -invasive screening tool could emerge. A market analysis will also be carried out in this specific case. The project will involve many international partners in both research and marketing.
“We now hope that this project will lead to the first blood diagnostic test based on proteins from the microbiota for chronic disease. This would be a major advance for early screening and management of Parkinson’s disease, which would make it possible to intervene early and improve the quality of life of patients, “said Professor Paul Wilmes.
