Approved Research

Prediction of Parkinson's disease and Atypical Parkinsonism: a longitudinal study from the UK Biobank

Lay summary

This project aims to identify individuals at risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease and the most common atypical parkinsonisms, by using the unprecedented amount of biological and medical data collected in the UK Biobank from half a million UK participants. It is well known that Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonisms have a long prodromal phase before the appearance of the typical clinical picture. For example, in Parkinson's disease, which is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, more than half of these dopaminergic neurons are lost before the typical motor symptoms appear. The direct consequence is a significant delay between the start of the neurodegenerative process and the clinical diagnosis. However, targeting the neurodegenerative process in its early stage may be indeed of crucial importance for the development of drugs able to impact the course of these devastating neurodegenerative disorders. Thus, one of the most ambitious challenges of modern research is the identification of patients in the pre-clinical stage of these neurodegenerative diseases, before the appearance of the clinical symptoms. In this project, lasting 36 months, fluid biomarkers, brain imaging, genetic data and environmental variables will be integrated to develop accurate models for the prediction of neurodegenerative parkinsonian diseases, years before the appearance of the typical clinical symptoms. This project fits well with the UK Biobank's purpose of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases representing a high burden for public health. First, insights from this project may lead to a better understanding of the disease pathophysiological processes of Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonisms. In addition, this project may pave the way for the early identification of populations at risk of a specific neurodegenerative disease, providing a unique opportunity for the development of new disease-modifying treatments aiming to slow down the neurodegenerative process and prevent or delay the appearance of clinical symptoms.