DOCUMENT
Dr James Wiseman Professors John Dalrymple-Alford and Tim Anderson Headlines 5 longitudinal study at the NZBRI co-led by John and neurologist Professor Tim Anderson; 70 patients with mild cognitive impairment related to Alzheimer’s disease in the NZ-wide Dementia Prevention Research Clinics (DPRC) led by Professor Lynette Tippett of the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research; and 60 healthy controls. The DPRC patients will give insight into which findings are specific to Parkinson’s and which to Alzheimer’s, but also address the crossover that sometimes happens in each condition. “The people who have a crossover of both might be at the highest risk of having a more severe decline,” says John. The researchers are aware of a potential downside of such a test – possibly detecting the disease years in advance of the onset of a disease for which there’s currently no cure. He says such individuals would still benefit from being monitored, but not everyone with a positive biomarker test will progress to the disease, especially if there are no other signs. Vanessa points out that the test would be invaluable for detecting the disease earlier and allowing future therapies to be started before nerve cells are lost. “The aim would be to try an intervention to see if it makes a difference earlier in the disease.” The research attracted the attention of world-leading Parkinson’s expert Professor Bas Bloem on a recent visit to New Zealand, when he called the work unique and valuable. He told Headlines that measurements of alpha-synuclein were becoming increasingly important in Parkinson’s diagnoses. “The current gold standard is in cerebrospinal fluid but that requires a lumbar puncture. Measuring alpha-synuclein in tears would be a readily accessible way of testing something that’s highly relevant for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.” John says that this work connects with other information about the eye. “The cornea is the most densely innervated tissue in the body and part of the mechanism that produces tears. In Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, there is a remarkably strong relationship between someone’s motor problems and cognition and the quality of the nerve fibres in the cornea.” Parkinson’s disease is the world’s fastest-growing neurological disorder. The number of people diagnosed in NZ each year is increasing sharply, from an estimated 7000 in 2006, to 13,000 in 2023. The figure is expected to reach 20,000 by 2040. MORE TEARS RESEARCH At the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research, The Synuclein Lab (led by Dr Victor Dieriks), is also investigating the potential use of tears to diagnose Parkinson’s disease. One of the researchers, Dr James Wiseman, is using an analysis technique he developed during his Neurological Foundation-funded PhD. At the Parkinson’s conference earlier this year, the lab’s team collected tear samples frommany of the conference attendees – an even mix of people with and without the disease. James says it takes about five minutes to collect each sample, which allows plenty of time to hear about people’s desires for breakthroughs. “The hope that they have, and their trust in us, is incredibly inspiring,” he says. The Dieriks Lab research is being funded by Te Tītoki Mataora.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjA0NA==