Unbiased Approaches to Biomarker Discovery in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia have several important features in common. They are progressive, they affect a relatively inaccessible organ, and we have no disease-modifying therapies for them. F...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2014-11, Vol.84 (3), p.594-607
Main Author: Chen-Plotkin, Alice S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biomarkers
Biomarkers - metabolism
Brain - metabolism
Brain - pathology
Charitable foundations
Decades
Humans
Neurodegeneration
Neurodegenerative Diseases - diagnosis
Neurodegenerative Diseases - metabolism
Neuropathology
Parkinson's disease
Proteins
Statistical methods
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Summary:Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia have several important features in common. They are progressive, they affect a relatively inaccessible organ, and we have no disease-modifying therapies for them. For these brain-based diseases, current diagnosis and evaluation of disease severity rely almost entirely on clinical examination, which may be only a rough approximation of disease state. Thus, the development of biomarkers—objective, relatively easily measured, and precise indicators of pathogenic processes—could improve patient care and accelerate therapeutic discovery. Yet existing, rigorously tested neurodegenerative disease biomarkers are few, and even fewer biomarkers have translated into clinical use. To find new biomarkers for these diseases, an unbiased, high-throughput screening approach may be needed. In this review, I will describe the potential utility of such an approach to biomarker discovery, using Parkinson’s disease as a case example. The development of novel biomarkers for neurodegenerative conditions could improve patient care and accelerate therapeutic discovery. In this Perspective, using Parkinson’s disease as a case study, Chen-Plotkin discusses why an unbiased, high-throughput screening approach for finding new biomarkers may be needed.
ISSN:0896-6273
1097-4199
DOI:10.1016/j.neuron.2014.10.031