Investigación sobre la enfermedad de Parkinson en el Clínic

Research projects on Parkinson’s disease are aimed at producing results with short-term application to improve diagnosis and treatment. A significant portion of the research lines are related to the clinical research protocols of the Neurology Service.

Research in this disease is carried out mainly through the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Specifically, it is developed within the Parkinson’s and Other Neurodegenerative Movement Disorders Group, part of the Clinical and Experimental Neurosciences Area. Researchers from the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Unit also participate in a Catalan Government Research Group (SGR) and in the Biomedical Research Networking Center in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED) of the ISCIII.

The group focuses its research on advancing clinical knowledge, developing clinical trials with experimental therapies, and conducting studies on neuroimaging, genetics, genomics, and biomarkers in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, such as atypical parkinsonisms, chorea, and dystonia.

Researchers from Clínic-IDIBAPS are leading a study involving 10,000 healthy individuals without Parkinson’s disease, aiming to identify people at high risk of developing it in the future
(https://www.cervellsaludable.cat/es/). This line of research focuses on the prodromal phase of Parkinson’s disease. Through a questionnaire, they aim to detect individuals at risk of developing the disease, before cardinal motor symptoms appear, such as hyposmia, REM sleep behavior disorder, or other prodromal symptoms.

Thanks to competitive funding, the unit’s researchers have implemented the SAA/RT-QuIC technique for alpha-synuclein in cerebrospinal fluid, which is now available as a diagnostic test at the CDB, and they are currently developing it for another protein involved in parkinsonism (4R-tau protein). Recently, they have started to evaluate the possibility of performing the SAA/RT-QuIC technique for alpha-synuclein in peripheral blood instead of cerebrospinal fluid, which would make diagnosis much more accessible.

Members of the unit, together with the Nuclear Medicine team, are starting to evaluate tau protein detection using positron emission tomography (PET) with the PI-2620 tracer, an imaging technique that will improve differentiation between Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy, a parkinsonism that is often very difficult to distinguish clinically from Parkinson’s.

Researchers involved in the Deep Brain Stimulation Program are studying new neuroimaging methods and adjustments to stimulation parameters to further optimize symptom control through this treatment.

Finally, the unit participates in clinical trials, both academic and pharmaceutical industry-sponsored, to evaluate the most innovative biological treatments for Parkinson’s disease and other degenerative parkinsonisms (such as multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy).