Parkinson’s, a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder, affects more than 10 million people worldwide, with incidence increasing as the global population ages. Symptoms typically begin with tremors, stiffness, and slowed movement, and progress to cognitive and behavioral changes. While medications can help manage symptoms, there is currently no cure.

One of the major challenges in treating Parkinson’s is that by the time it is diagnosed, much of the neurological damage has already occurred.

Addressing this gap, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently unveiled a groundbreaking blood test capable of detecting Parkinson’s disease before clinical symptoms arise.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Aging Nature journal, was led by PhD student Nimrod Madrer under the supervision of Prof. Hermona Soreq at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Iddo Paldor of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Dr. Eyal Soreq of the University of Surrey and Imperial College London.

“Diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is these days at the level that cancer diagnosis was 50 years ago,” said Prof. Soreq. “The disease is identified when most of the relevant neurons have already died, and it is therefore too late to cure.” Their team’s test seeks to close that gap, offering clinicians a window into the earliest biological changes associated with Parkinson’s.

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