A New Technique To Differentiate Parkinson’s And Multiple Systems Atrophy

Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy are conditions that coincide in many respects. Its symptoms are similar and research on its origin points in a similar direction.

Both are neurodegenerative diseases that inexorably progress to more serious forms. Finding effective treatment also involves looking for ways to diagnose disorders early enough to address them.

The journal Nature  has published in February of this year some advances in this regard. Perhaps the most relevant is the one commanded by the University of Texas, where a technique is proposed that could differentiate between Parkinson’s and multiple systems atrophy.

Considering the difficulty that doctors have to diagnose one or the other in the beginning, the advance could be relevant. An accurate and timely diagnosis would allow the establishment of appropriate treatments without delaying the approach. Let us bear in mind that, so far, the only way to know if it is one disorder or another is to wait for the evolution.

Clinically, multiple system atrophy progresses faster than Parkinson’s, therefore, a delay is a worse prognosis. And, certainly, when the symptoms are too evident it is because the evolution was accelerated. Biologically, the delay translates into larger neurons with irreversible damage.

What is Parkinson’s disease?

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. The biggest sign of it is movement disturbance. Parkinson’s patients present with evident tremors and shaking, mostly in the hands and legs.

Over time, the disorder extends the difficulty of movements to other parts of the body, adding rigidity. This leads to imbalances, lack of coordination and slower implementation of actions.

The chemical alteration known as the immediate cause is a lack of dopamine. Dopamine is a substance that works as a neurotransmitter in the nervous system. Its lack paves the way for the symptoms of the disease.

It is more common in those over 60, and therefore age is considered a risk factor. However, some juvenile clinical presentations are possible. The most symbolic case in the world is that of actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed at age 29.

Multiple system atrophy

Multiple system atrophy or multi-system atrophy is also a neurodegenerative disorder. Like Parkinson’s, it has its highest incidence in older individuals, in this case over 50 years of age.

Its symptoms are very similar to Parkinson’s disease, including motor disturbances. Anyway, there is a significant fact of this pathology which is its ability to affect autonomous functions of the organism. Thus, patients suffer from hypotension, constipation, urinary incontinence, arrhythmias, and abnormal breathing.

There is no definite cause of multiple system atrophy. Investigations have not yet revealed the underlying problem that would give rise to the disease. It is known that brain neurons atrophy and fill with a protein called alpha-synuclein.

Alpha-synuclein and the new research

The protein that diseases share, and that would open the way to differential diagnosis, is alpha-synuclein. Known by the acronym aSyn, it is a substance that bends on itself incorrectly, causing excessive accumulation and damage to neurons. When the accumulation of the error exceeds the limits of normality, motor effects appear.

In both Parkinson’s and multiple systems atrophy, alpha-synuclein accumulates over years to limit neuronal functionality. The problem was that, although the protein was detectable, it was not possible to distinguish with certainty whether the accumulation would evolve towards Parkinson’s or towards multisystemic atrophy

This new research published in Nature , along with others, proposes a biochemical method – called cyclic amplification of protein folding – that would differentiate between folds. In this way, if progress continues, the method would distinguish between misfolds in Parkinson’s and misfolds in multisystemic atrophy.

The sensitivity reported in the article is 95.4%. This is promising. It would be a diagnostic test with a high success rate to arrive at a timely diagnosis. In addition, it would speed up treatment plans, without having to wait for differentiation to address one or another pathology.

One more breakthrough for hope in Parkinson’s disease

Neurodegenerative diseases are a big problem in society. The aging of the population has brought new aspects of these pathologies and science investigates daily how to diagnose and treat them.

This new advance published in Nature would improve early diagnosis, and thus could advance early-onset therapeutics to slow down the evolution. For now, timely consultation with a professional is still relevant when strange symptoms appear in our movements.