JEDDAH: Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have developed an electronic sensor that can detect molecular signatures associated with Parkinson’s disease in blood, an advance that could eventually help identify the disease before characteristic symptoms emerge. The technology, developed by KAUST researchers in collaboration with the University of Oxford, simultaneously detects three forms of alpha-synuclein, a protein closely associated with Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in Science Advances. In an initial blinded evaluation involving 59 participants from the Oxford Discovery cohort, the platform achieved 90.9 percent accuracy in distinguishing disease-associated profiles from healthy controls. The study included people with Parkinson’s disease, healthy controls and individuals with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder, or iRBD, a condition associated with an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or related neurological disorders. Speaking to Arab News, Sahika Inal, associate professor of bioengineering at KAUST, said the next phase of research will focus on testing the sensor in larger patient cohorts. “That requires us also to make more of the same sensors of the same quality with industrial precision,” she said. Once the larger studies produce the necessary results, the researchers could seek regulatory approval from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority and the US Food and Drug Administration, she said. “It takes 3-4 years for such early-stage technologies to reach clinical use,” Inal said. The sensor addresses one of the key challenges in using blood to investigate Parkinson’s disease. More than 95 percent of alpha-synuclein circulating in blood originates from red blood cells, creating substantial background noise that makes it difficult to identify signals from the nervous system. The researchers’ approach first isolates tiny packages released by nerve cells into the bloodstream before analyzing their protein contents with the electronic sensor. A transistor at the center of the system amplifies very small biological signals into larger electronic signals, allowing the three forms of alpha-synuclein to be measured in about 40 minutes. Parkinson’s disease damages dopamine-producing neurons and can cause problems with movement, balance and other bodily functions. Diagnosis is currently based largely on clinical assessment and often follows the emergence of characteristic movement symptoms. Detecting disease-related molecular changes through a blood sample could therefore provide an opportunity to investigate the disease at an earlier stage. However, the researchers stress that the current findings do not establish the sensor as a standalone diagnostic test. Inal said the team also does not yet know whether the markers could be used to track how the disease changes over time. “We have no evidence right now whether these markers change over time with respect to the severity of the disease,” she said. “We have only now discovered a marker that we suggest as a potential indicator of the onset of the disease.” To determine whether the sensor could eventually be used to monitor disease progression or response to treatment, researchers would need to follow the same group of patients over an extended period. “We would need to test more samples to see how the amount of these markers changes as the disease progresses. This would require tests from the same cohort over the years,” Inal said. The study also found distinct patterns in the different forms of alpha-synuclein among people with Parkinson’s disease, healthy controls and those with iRBD, suggesting that measuring them together could provide more diagnostic information than relying on a single marker. The research comes as Saudi Arabia places greater emphasis on preventive healthcare and early detection as life expectancy increases and the population ages. For KAUST, the next stage could also include research involving patients in the Kingdom. “We would be delighted to work with Saudi clinicians,” Inal said. The researchers emphasize that the current results are an initial step. Larger, prospective and multicenter clinical studies will be needed to establish the technology’s reliability and long-term predictive value before it can be considered for routine clinical use.