Breakthrough in researching Parkinson’s disease

The early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can differ dramatically between patients. The traditional approach to diagnosing the disease fails to account for the complex biological processes at work.

Along with other researchers, Dr. Anthony Lang, Professor at the University of Toronto, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease, and Lily Safra Chair in Movement Disorders at the Toronto Western Hospital, suggests a physiologically-based methodology for defining Parkinson’s called SynNeurGe (pronounced “synergy”) which combines protein levels analysis, genetic variation, and biological signs of neurodegeneration.

As a result, this method could help researchers in identifying subgroups of patients with discrete disease processes and developing clinically relevant disease-modifying medicines.

Dr. Lang comments: “This new classification system and the future research project it will inspire, is one of the most exciting things I have worked on in my career.”

The study has been published in the renowned scientific review The Lancet: ‘A biological classification of Parkinson’s disease: the SynNeurGe research diagnostic criteria‘.