New Staging System Could Forecast How Quickly Parkinson’s Might Progress After Diagnosis

In the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, alpha-synuclein accumulates in the brain, damaging nerve cells that produce dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone that regulates movement. Its absence in the brain can cause movement problems, among other symptoms.

Investigators believe that alpha-synuclein accumulates in the brain for years before patients begin presenting with symptoms. Alpha-synuclein is a protein that forms Lewy bodies, which scientists believe may be the cause of Parkinson’s. Following research from last year that found that this protein could be detected in living patients via cerebrospinal fluid, investigators decided to use biological indicators to help develop a more exact approach to Parkinson’s treatment and diagnosis.

Now a new study has discovered that an integrated staging system based on the neuronal alpha-synuclein disease may help forecast how quickly Parkinson’s disease may progress to clinically significant milestones, regardless of whether a patient has begun presenting with symptoms or not.

The system, dubbed NSD-ISS for short, works by classifying Parkinson’s in 6 stages, with patients in the final stage presenting with loss of independence and severe impairments.

This study was led by Dr. Tanya Simuni of the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, at Northwestern University. For their study, the investigators obtained data from three separate studies, then classified each patient in a particular stage of the illness by examining their biological, functional and clinical biomarkers.

The investigators determined that 93% of patients had neuronal alpha-synuclein disease, with 63% being classified in stage 3 while 25% were in stage 2. They also found that rates of progression quickened in the later stages, with patients taking about two years to hit clinically significant milestones in stage 4. This is in comparison to the 8.3 years taken to hit stage 2B.

In their report, the investigators explained that progression times offered important insights for medical treatment. For instance, patients in stage 4 were more likely to need faster intervention as the illness progressed rapidly.

The investigators added that additional studies were required to verify the accuracy of the NSD-ISS and validate its use as a tool for learning more about the biology of Parkinson’s disease.

The study’s findings were reported in Parkinson’s Disease as a joint effort between investigators in academia and industry. In the report, Dr. Simuni noted that the study was a collaborative effort of parties in industry and academicians as they required this framework to develop treatments for the initial stages of Parkinson’s. It was funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

The progress that is being made in diagnosing and staging neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease promises better clinical outcomes for patients if their doctors can make an accurate determination of when exactly they need to get onto any medications commercialized by enterprises like Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE: ANVS) to halt the progression of the disease.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE: ANVS) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/ANVS

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