Israel
Israeli researchers develop blood test for early detection of Parkinson’s
The PCR test could allow the neurodegenerative disease to be detected before symptoms appear, potentially improving treatment outcomes
April 16, 2025 10:22
The PCR test could allow the neurodegenerative disease to be detected before symptoms appear, potentially improving treatment outcomes
April 16, 2025 10:22A team of Israeli scientists say they have developed a simple blood test capable of identifying Parkinson’s disease at its earliest stages, years before clinical symptoms begin to appear.
“This discovery is a big step forward in how we understand and detect Parkinson’s,” Professor Hermona Soreq, lead researcher at the Edmond and Lily Safra Centre for Brain Sciences and the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the Times of Israel.
The study, carried out by a multidisciplinary team led by Soreq, employed an innovative method by analysing transfer RNA (tRNA) fragments – molecular elements typically overlooked in Parkinson’s research. These fragments, they found, could serve as early biomarkers of neurodegeneration.
Parkinson’s disease is often diagnosed only after significant and irreversible brain damage has occurred, “when there’s no use in developing therapeutics,” the Times of Israel quoted Soreq as saying. “We now have a simple, minimally invasive blood test, so if we catch the disease at a much earlier stage, then there is hope.”
PhD student Nimrod Madrer, who led much of the research under Soreq’s supervision, said his military service in an intelligence unit of the Israel Defence Forces had helped him to identify patterns in the tRNA fragments he was studying.
“I was used to searching for patterns in things as part of my training,” he told the Times of Israel. “I started to see a pattern of tRNA fragments that were elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid in Parkinson’s patients.”
The team identified two groups of tRNA fragments as potential biomarkers. One group, which they named RGTTCRA fragments, showed elevated levels in Parkinson’s patients. These fragments contain a specific sequence of seven RNA building blocks.
The second group, derived from mitochondria – the cell’s energy producers, known to be damaged in Parkinson’s – was found in lower levels among patients.
By measuring the ratio between the two tRNA groups in blood samples, the researchers could distinguish individuals with pre-symptomatic Parkinson’s from healthy controls.
The test, which uses the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method commonly employed in COVID-19 testing, was trialled using samples from 60 early-stage Parkinson’s patients and 60 matched controls, provided by the New York-based Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
The Parkinson’s patients included in the study had early signs such as reduced sense of smell or sleep disturbances, but not yet the hallmark tremors or motor issues. The test correctly identified Parkinson’s patients 86 per cent of the time.
“The idea is to make an easy blood test that any clinician can administer so that in 10 years, every patient over the age of 65 can take it and see if this patient is at risk for developing Parkinson’s,” said Madrer.
The team is now in talks with pharmaceutical companies to expand the study across a broader and more diverse patient cohort – an essential step toward gaining US Food and Drug Administration approval. They are also continuing to investigate the biological mechanism behind the observed changes in tRNA fragment levels.
Whether the RGTTCRA fragments are a cause of Parkinson’s or a result of the disease process remains unclear. “We still have a long way to go before we get there,” Madrer said. “But understanding the mechanism behind it will hopefully lead to a new potential treatment.”