Identification of biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring therapy in the treatment of neurologic disorders

Abstract One of the greatest obstacles for developing disease-modifying therapy for neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is the lack of early diagnosis. Currently, the diagnosis of these diseases relies mostly on clinical symptoms which appear after massive neuronal loss has already occurred. An accurate and reliable biomarker is needed for early diagnosis, monitoring therapeutic interventions, and for assessing disease progression. Key pathological events in these diseases are protein misfolding, aggregation, and brain deposition that involves the formation of several intermediate species including soluble oligomers or aggregates (nonfibrillar). These species are toxic and believed to form years or decades before the occurrence of neuronal death and clinical symptoms. With advanced methodology, they can be detected in spinal fluid, blood, etc., an advance that approaches the need for an ideal biomarker and highlights the importance of novel methods for detecting these species associated with neurological disorders. In this regard, the development of protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) in biochemical diagnosis and disease monitoring is described.