Molecular Biometrics Announces Results of Parkinson's Disease Research and Receipt of Grant From Michael J. Fox Foundation to Advance Diagnostic ...(ques todelineate a chemical signature in...)

Date:8/5/2008

ques, to delineate a chemical signature in blood that identifies patients with Parkinson's disease," said Hyman M. Schipper, MD, PhD, FRCPC, lead author of the study and member of the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Department of Medicine, McGill University, and member of the Attending Staff in Neurology at Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital, in Montreal, Canada. "This proof-of-concept gives us great hope that biospectroscopy will offer a new approach to the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders." Dr Schipper is a noted expert in brain aging and neurodegeneration, and a Founding Scientist and Medical Director (Neurosciences) at Molecular Biometrics.

In the study, fifty-two patients, 20 with mild or moderate stages of Parkinson's disease and 32 age-matched control subjects were recruited at the Jewish General Hospital. Whole blood samples were analyzed using near- infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy (RS) methods which have previously been used to create metabolomic profiles (chemical signatures) of human biofluids, including serum and whole blood.

Both NIR and RS methods were applied to measure the degree of oxidative stress (OS) present in each sample. OS has been considered to be a potential biomarker for Parkinson's disease. However, to date, chemical markers have not proven sufficiently robust to serve as an accurate or reliable biomarker of the disease. OS is caused by a chemical imbalance that can damage critical components of a cell, including proteins, lipids and DNA. OS is known to be involved in many diseases, including PD and Alzheimer's disease. The data from this study showed that the two independent biospectroscopy measurement techniques yielded similar and consistent results. In differentiating Parkinson's disease patients from the control group, RS achieved a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 72%, with eight false positives and four
'/>"/>

SOURCE Molecular Biometrics Copyright©2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

3 GOOD

Page: 1 2 3 4 5
Related biology technology :

1. Dr. George Poste Named Non-Executive Vice Chairman of CDX Holdings, Parent of Caris Diagnostics and Caris Molecular Diagnostics
2. New Turbomolecular Pumping System From Varian, Inc. Delivers Portable, Dry, Ultra-high Vacuum.
3. Xceed Molecular to Launch New Inflammation Xpress Chip(TM)for the Ziplex(R) Automated Gene-Expression Analysis System at Clinical Lab Expo 2008, Booth 2155
4. Molecular hula hoop
5. Noted Molecular Epidemiologist Joins Cepheid to Head Healthcare Associated Infection Consortium Program
6. Industry Veterans Join Molecular Imprints Management Team
7. New molecular imaging techniques may lead to advances in disease treatment
8. Michigan Tech scientist models molecular switch
9. 3M Discontinues Collaboration with Gen-Probe to Develop Molecular Tests for Healthcare-Associated Infections
10. Molecular changes in brain fluid give insight into brain-damaging disease
11. Xceed Molecular Grants Gen-Probe License to Xceeds Flow-Thru Chip(R) Technology for Multiplex Molecular Diagnostics