Imaging and Genetic Biomarkers of Parkinson Disease (PD) Onset and Progression in High-risk Families

Summary

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, and tremor. Clinical decline reflects ongoing degeneration of dopamine-containing neurons. A critical unmet need for clinical research is to improve early detection of these diseases by developing tools to assist with earlier diagnosis. Biomarkers are broadly defined as characteristics that are objectively measured and evaluated as indicators of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention (Biomarkers Defintions Working Group 2001). Development of reliable biomarkers for PD would dramatically accelerate research on PD etiology, pathophysiology, disease progression and therapeutics. Specific biomarkers may be useful at the onset of neurodegeneration, the onset of disease, and/or to mark disease progression. The biomarkers in this study include brain imaging with a radioactively labelled drug (Beta-CIT), computerized testing of memory, attention, motor speed, judgment and handwriting, and assessments of speech and smell. Subjects may also be asked to provide a blood sample for genetic and biochemical testing.

Timeline

Start

2006-01

Primary completion

2008-01

Completion

2008-01

Publications

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• Background Foroud T, Uniacke SK, Liu L, Pankratz N, Rudolph A, Halter C, Shults C, Marder K, Conneally PM, Nichols WC; Parkinson Study Group. Heterozygosity for a mutation in the parkin gene leads to later onset Parkinson disease. Neurology. 2003 Mar 11;60(5):796-801. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000049470.00180.07.
• Background Golbe LI, Di Iorio G, Sanges G, Lazzarini AM, La Sala S, Bonavita V, Duvoisin RC. Clinical genetic analysis of Parkinson's disease in the Contursi kindred. Ann Neurol. 1996 Nov;40(5):767-75. doi: 10.1002/ana.410400513.
• Background Kitada T, Asakawa S, Hattori N, Matsumine H, Yamamura Y, Minoshima S, Yokochi M, Mizuno Y, Shimizu N. Mutations in the parkin gene cause autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism. Nature. 1998 Apr 9;392(6676):605-8. doi: 10.1038/33416.
• Background Koller WC, Langston JW, Hubble JP, Irwin I, Zack M, Golbe L, Forno L, Ellenberg J, Kurland L, Ruttenber AJ, et al. Does a long preclinical period occur in Parkinson's disease? Neurology. 1991 May;41(5 Suppl 2):8-13. No abstract available.
• Background Lincoln SJ, Maraganore DM, Lesnick TG, Bounds R, de Andrade M, Bower JH, Hardy JA, Farrer MJ. Parkin variants in North American Parkinson's disease: cases and controls. Mov Disord. 2003 Nov;18(11):1306-11. doi: 10.1002/mds.10601.
• Background Marek, K., J. Seibyl, et al. (1999). "[123I] ß-CIT/SPECT: Assessment of determinants of variability in progression of Parkinson's disease." Neurology 52: A91-92.
• Background Marek, K., J. Seibyl, et al. (1996). "Dopamine transporter and receptor imaging in Parkinsonism. (Presented at the 4th International Congress of Movement Disorders, Vienna, Austria; June, 1996.)." Mov Dis 6.
• Background Polymeropoulos MH, Higgins JJ, Golbe LI, Johnson WG, Ide SE, Di Iorio G, Sanges G, Stenroos ES, Pho LT, Schaffer AA, Lazzarini AM, Nussbaum RL, Duvoisin RC. Mapping of a gene for Parkinson's disease to chromosome 4q21-q23. Science. 1996 Nov 15;274(5290):1197-9. doi: 10.1126/science.274.5290.1197.
• Background Seibyl JP, Marek KL, Quinlan D, Sheff K, Zoghbi S, Zea-Ponce Y, Baldwin RM, Fussell B, Smith EO, Charney DS, van Dyck C, et al. Decreased single-photon emission computed tomographic [123I]beta-CIT striatal uptake correlates with symptom severity in Parkinson's disease. Ann Neurol. 1995 Oct;38(4):589-98. doi: 10.1002/ana.410380407.
• Background Seibyl JP, Marek K, Sheff K, Baldwin RM, Zoghbi S, Zea-Ponce Y, Charney DS, van Dyck CH, Hoffer PB, Innis RB. Test/retest reproducibility of iodine-123-betaCIT SPECT brain measurement of dopamine transporters in Parkinson's patients. J Nucl Med. 1997 Sep;38(9):1453-9.
• Background Seibyl, J. P., K. L. Marek, et al. (1994). "[123I] B-CIT SPECT imaging in idiopathic parkinson's disease: correlation of striatal binding abnormality with disease severity [abstract]." Mov Disord 9(Suppl 1): 89.
• Background Tanner, C. (1994). Epidemiologic clues to the cause of Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders 3. S. Fahn and C. Marsden. Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann: 124-146.
• Background van Dyck CH, Seibyl JP, Malison RT, Laruelle M, Wallace E, Zoghbi SS, Zea-Ponce Y, Baldwin RM, Charney DS, Hoffer PB. Age-related decline in striatal dopamine transporter binding with iodine-123-beta-CITSPECT. J Nucl Med. 1995 Jul;36(7):1175-81.
• Background Vingerhoets FJ, Snow BJ, Lee CS, Schulzer M, Mak E, Calne DB. Longitudinal fluorodopa positron emission tomographic studies of the evolution of idiopathic parkinsonism. Ann Neurol. 1994 Nov;36(5):759-64. doi: 10.1002/ana.410360512.
• Background West AB, Maraganore D, Crook J, Lesnick T, Lockhart PJ, Wilkes KM, Kapatos G, Hardy JA, Farrer MJ. Functional association of the parkin gene promoter with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Hum Mol Genet. 2002 Oct 15;11(22):2787-92. doi: 10.1093/hmg/11.22.2787.

Drugs

Indications