Early Detection of Parkinson's Disease using Noninvasive Microscopy Biomarkers

Background & Unmet Need

• Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting 10 million people worldwide
• The presence of Lewy bodies, which are made up by aggregated a-synuclein protein deposits, are a hallmark of PD
• Emerging diagnostics for PD measure levels of a-synuclein in spinal fluid, which is collected from invasive lumbar punctures
• Lumbar punctures can be painful and put patients at risk for spinal fluid leakage, prolonged headaches, back pain, and bleeding
• It is currently difficult to accurately measure pathological a-synuclein aggregates in living patients using non-invasive methods
• Unmet Need: Noninvasive biomarkers for early assessment of Parkinson's disease

Technology Overview

• The Technology:A method for early detection of Parkinson’s Disease using an imaging modality to measure a novel biomarker
• The Discovery: In a novel mouse model of PD, the inventor has discovered a new biomarker that is visually apparent using a readily available imaging modality
• The emergence of this biomarker temporally coincides with onset and progression of disease as well as Lewy body deposition, and could be used a biomarker for PD detection
• PoC Data: In a mouse model of PD, diseased mice had significantly more expression of the biomarker (p<0.001) than control mice starting at 2 months old
• The expression of the biomarker increases over time in diseased mice, matching PD disease progression

Technology Applications

• Early, noninvasive detection of Parkinson’s Disease
• Method of monitoring PD progression over time
• Method of assessing treatment efficacy during clinical trials
• Diagnosis of other neurodegenerative diseases involving aggregated a-synuclein deposition, such as Lewy body dementia

Technology Advantages

• Noninvasive, unlike current diagnostics that utilize spinal taps or biopsies
• Measures actual levels of pathological a-synuclein inclusions, rather than amplifying the quantity, enabling more accurate assessment of the disease
• Increased expression of the biomarker correlates to disease progression, allowing for better assessment of the state of the disease or treatment efficacy
• More cost effective than methods requiring sampling and assays for protein or nucleic acid levels

Figure 1: Expression of biomarker increases over time, matching disease progression.