Science Daily reports that researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have discovered that an important clue to diagnosing Parkinson’s may lie just beneath the skin.
In a study scheduled to appear in the October 29th print issue of the journal Neurology and currently published on-line, the investigators report that elevated levels of a protein called alpha-synuclein can be detected in the skin of Parkinson’s patients, findings that offer a possible biomarker to enable clinicians to identify and diagnose PD before the disease has reached an advanced stage. See also the article published in Medical News Today.