Israeli Researchers Develop New Blood Test That Detects Parkinson’s Before Symptoms Appear

Israeli Researchers Develop New Blood Test That Detects Parkinson’s Before Symptoms Appear

Pre-symptomatic detection of Parkinson’s opens a door for earlier interventions, potentially slowing or halting the disease’s progression.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

A new blood test developed by Israeli and British researchers offers a fast, affordable, and highly accurate tool to identify
Parkinson’s disease in its earliest stages even before symptoms start to appear.

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.

The innovation centers on transfer RNA fragments (tRFs) — small RNA molecules traditionally overlooked in Parkinson’s research.

The scientists identified two key biomarkers: a rise in Parkinson’s-specific tRFs that carry a repeated sequence motif (RGTTCRA-tRFs), and a decline in mitochondrial tRFs (MT-tRFs), which deteriorate as the disease advances.

By calculating the ratio between these two RNA markers using a dual qPCR assay, the test can reliably distinguish between healthy individuals and those in the pre-symptomatic stages of Parkinson’s.

“This discovery represents a major advancement in our understanding of Parkinson’s disease and offers a simple, minimally-invasive blood test as a tool for early diagnosis,” Prof. Soreq added.

“By focusing on tRFs, we’ve opened a new window into the molecular changes that occur in the earliest stages of the disease.”

In trials using samples from several international cohorts — including the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative — the test achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 0.86, significantly outperforming traditional clinical scoring methods.

Importantly, levels of RGTTCRA-tRFs were found to decrease following deep brain stimulation (DBS), suggesting the biomarkers may also serve as indicators of treatment response.

“This test has the potential to alleviate the uncertainty faced by patients and clinicians, offering a reliable and rapid method to identify the disease in its earliest stages,” said Madrer.

The practical applications are wide-ranging.

Pre-symptomatic detection of Parkinson’s opens a door for earlier interventions, potentially slowing or halting the disease’s progression.

People with a family history of Parkinson’s, certain genetic markers, or early non-motor symptoms such as REM sleep behavior disorder could be screened regularly.

Because RGTTCRA-tRF levels respond to treatment, the test could be used to track disease activity over time and help clinicians assess whether a therapy is working or needs adjustment.

This could also enable pharmaceutical and biotech companies to use the test to identify pre-symptomatic participants for clinical trials, especially for drugs targeting early-stage Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s is often misdiagnosed or confused with other movement disorders. By detecting observable changes in specific RNA fragments, the test reduces diagnostic uncertainty.

Moreover, the test is based on a widely used and inexpensive lab technique called qPCR, making it scalable for use in community clinics.

Broader clinical validation is underway to support large-scale deployment.

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