Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Opportunities and challenges of alpha-synuclein as a potential biomarker for Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies
 
review article

Opportunities and challenges of alpha-synuclein as a potential biomarker for Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies

Magalhaes, Pedro  
•
Lashuel, Hilal A.  
July 22, 2022
Npj Parkinsons Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disease, develops and progresses for 10-15 years before the clinical diagnostic symptoms of the disease are manifested. Furthermore, several aspects of PD pathology overlap with other neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) linked to alpha-synuclein (aSyn) aggregation, also called synucleinopathies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover and validate early diagnostic and prognostic markers that reflect disease pathophysiology, progression, severity, and potential differences in disease mechanisms between PD and other NDDs. The close association between aSyn and the development of pathology in synucleinopathies, along with the identification of aSyn species in biological fluids, has led to increasing interest in aSyn species as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of PD and differentiate it from other synucleinopathies. In this review, we (1) provide an overview of the progress toward mapping the distribution of aSyn species in the brain, peripheral tissues, and biological fluids; (2) present comparative and critical analysis of previous studies that measured total aSyn as well as other species such as modified and aggregated forms of aSyn in different biological fluids; and (3) highlight conceptual and technical gaps and challenges that could hinder the development and validation of reliable aSyn biomarkers; and (4) outline a series of recommendations to address these challenges. Finally, we propose a combined biomarker approach based on integrating biochemical, aggregation and structure features of aSyn, in addition to other biomarkers of neurodegeneration. We believe that capturing the diversity of aSyn species is essential to develop robust assays and diagnostics for early detection, patient stratification, monitoring of disease progression, and differentiation between synucleinopathies. This could transform clinical trial design and implementation, accelerate the development of new therapies, and improve clinical decisions and treatment strategies.

  • Files
  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
review article
DOI
10.1038/s41531-022-00357-0
Web of Science ID

WOS:000829037800001

Author(s)
Magalhaes, Pedro  
Lashuel, Hilal A.  
Date Issued

2022-07-22

Publisher

NATURE PORTFOLIO

Published in
Npj Parkinsons Disease
Volume

8

Issue

1

Start page

93

Subjects

Neurosciences

•

Neurosciences & Neurology

•

multiple system atrophy

•

drug-naive patients

•

amino-acid-analysis

•

red-blood-cells

•

cerebrospinal-fluid

•

lewy body

•

alzheimers-disease

•

posttranslational modifications

•

pathological influences

•

extracellular vesicles

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMNN  
Available on Infoscience
August 1, 2022
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/189513
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés