Reacción a "Reactions to the analysis linking certain gastrointestinal diagnoses with Parkinson's disease"

The study firmly establishes association between particular forms of gut dysfunction (constipation, gastroparesis and dysphagia) preceding the development of motor symptoms that are usually used to diagnose clinical Parkinson’s Disease. Given that the disease has typically already progressed to large scale neurodegeneration in the substantia nigra of patients that present with motor symptoms, any earlier clinical signs and potential biomarkers would be highly valuable for earlier (and therefore more effective) treatment and drug targeting.

An interesting side point of the study is the seemingly protective association of appendectomy with Parkinson’s Disease, implying in addition that within the GI the appendix might be the origin of the pathological insult that then spreads throughout the gut and ultimately to the brain. Since the latter association was within the range of potential surveillance bias, this has to be further validated, however.

The association found here therefore firmly establishes that the gut might be a prime target to search for biomarkers in humans, or to develop better model systems to understand gut dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease in order to find drug targets.