The discovery thus reveals a window of opportunity that could be crucial for future treatment, but also for early diagnosis via blood tests, which could begin to be tested in health care within five years.

Parkinson’s is an endemic disease with over 10 million people affected globally. As the world’s population grows older, this number is expected to more than double by 2050. At present, there is neither an effective cure nor an established screening method for detecting this chronic neurological disorder at an early stage before it has caused significant damage to the brain.

In a study published in npj Parkinson’s Disease, a research team from Chalmers University of Technology and Oslo University Hospital, Norway, reports on decisive steps towards an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s.