Diagnosis of Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease Using Autoantibodies as Blood-based Biomarkers

Human serum samples from early-stage Parkinson's disease and non-diseased controls were probed onto human protein microarrays in order to identify differentially expressed autoantibody biomarkers that could be used as diagnostic indicators. Other neurodegenerative and non-neurodegenerative diseases were also used to help measure the specificity of the selected biomarkers. In the study presented here, 103 Early-stage Parkinson's disease and 156 control human serum samples were probed onto human protein microarrays in order to identify differentially expressed autoantibodies. Microarray data was analyzed using several statistical significance algorithms, and autoantibodies that demonstrated significant differences in group prevelance were selected as potential biomarkers of disease. Prediction classification analysis using Invitrogen's Prospector v5.2.1 and Random Forest tested the diagnostic efficacy of the identified biomarkers. Differentiation of early-stage PD samples from other neurodegenerative and non-neurodegenerative controls (Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and breast cancer) assessed the specificity of the selected biomarkers, while comparison with mild-moderate Parkinson's disease samples assessed their utility for use in disease staging.