Michele Matarazzo
Neurologist specialising in Parkinson's disease at the Comprehensive Neuroscience Centre HM Cinac, editor-in-chief of MDS Podcast and coordinator of the Ad Hoc Committee on Neurotechnology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Spanish Society of Neurology.
The findings appear to be of great interest, especially from a technical rather than a clinical point of view. The study describes a novel technique capable of detecting alpha-synuclein aggregation, a protein closely related to Parkinson's disease, in human brain tissue, with a sensitivity far superior to that available until now. This tool may open the door to a better understanding of how and when these aggregates form and what their role is in the disease.
It is important to emphasise that the results need to be confirmed in independent cohorts and compared with other neurodegenerative diseases to verify their specificity. In summary, I believe this is a very significant advance as a research tool, although it has no immediate clinical application.