Blood biomarker for Parkinson disease: peptoids

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Because dopaminergic neuronal loss begins years before motor symptoms appear, a biomarker for the early identification of the disease is critical for the study of putative neuroprotective therapies. Brain imaging of the nigrostriatal dopamine system has been used as a biomarker for early disease along with cerebrospinal fluid analysis of α-synuclein, but a less costly and relatively non-invasive biomarker would be optimal. We sought to identify an antibody biomarker in the blood of PD patients using a combinatorial peptoid library approach. We examined serum samples from 75 PD patients, 25 de novo PD patients, and 104 normal control subjects in the NINDS Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker Program. We identified a peptoid, PD2, which binds significantly higher levels of IgG3 antibody in PD versus control subjects (P<0.0001) and is 68% accurate in identifying PD. The PD2 peptoid is 84% accurate in identifying de novo PD. Also, IgG3 levels are significantly higher in PD versus control serum (P<0.001). Finally, PD2 levels are positively correlated with the United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale score (r=0.457, P<0001), a marker of disease severity. The PD2 peptoid may be useful for the early-stage identification of PD, and serve as an indicator of disease severity. Additional studies are needed to validate this PD biomarker.