Biospectroscopy-Based Metabolomics Identified Biomarkers for Parkinson's Diagnosis

A biospectroscopy-based metabolomics (BSM) platform was used to assess biomarkers of oxidative metabolism (OD) in the plasma of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.

Oxidative metabolism (OM) has long been implicated as a major factor in the pathogenesis of idiopathic PD. A pilot study concluded that both Raman spectroscopy (RS) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy (also known as vibrational spectroscopy or VS) could be used to reproducibly identify and quantify biomarkers of OM with a sensitivity and specificity of >75%. Moreover, the biomarkers produced characteristic metabolomic profiles, or fingerprints, that could distinguish patients with PD from normal elderly controls and from patients with other neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

The BSM platform was developed by Molecular Biometrics, LCC (Montreal, Canada; www.molecularbiometrics.com), which is rapidly advancing the development of its metabolomics platform based on OM with the aim of commercializing a rapid, minimally-invasive, and cost-effective test for screening patients for Parkinson's disease and other neurologic disorders.

James Posillico, Ph.D., president and CEO at Molecular Biometrics commented, Currently there are no proven biomarkers to aide in the diagnosis of PD. Doctors rely primarily on clinical symptoms, which can lead to misdiagnosis. Advanced neuroimaging analyses such as positron emission topography [PET] are too complex and expensive to be used on a routine basis. We expect that metabolomic signatures like those identified in this pilot study will eventually provide clinicians with a rapid, cost-effective tool for diagnosing and monitoring patients with PD.


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