After around a decade of persistent efforts, scientists in Shanghai have developed a breakthrough method to help clinically distinguish between Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy, two neurodegenerative diseases that are notoriously difficult to differentiate based on symptoms alone.

Such advancement is expected to facilitate early screening and diagnosis for patients, the researchers said.

Doctors also emphasized that this progress means many patients will no longer miss the optimal intervention window, nor will they be misdirected by incorrect diagnoses leading to inappropriate treatments.

Neurodegenerative diseases, closely linked to aging, pose a significant challenge in achieving accurate identification and precise classification in their early stages. More than 60 million individuals around the world are affected by neurodegenerative diseases today.

Parkinson's disease and MSA share similar symptoms, with patients initially experiencing slowed movements, tremors, and instability while walking. So far, clinical examinations struggle to distinguish these conditions accurately.

In this research, a collaborative research team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University discovered and validated a new biomarker. Based on this discovery, they developed a new diagnostic technique.

In tests involving more than 200 clinical samples, the new method yielded promising results: cerebrospinal fluid samples from MSA patients triggered a strong amplification response, whereas samples from other conditions like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia with Lewy bodies showed no significant response.

"Such discovery is akin to finding the classification code hidden in the cerebrospinal fluid, enabling precise differentiation between Parkinson's disease and MSA," Li Dan, a lead scientist of the study and a professor at SJTU, said.

A paper about the research was published on the website of the journal Cell on Tuesday.

Currently, the diagnostic method developed from this research primarily uses cerebrospinal fluid samples. The research team said it is also exploring the possibility of extending the method to other bodily fluids, such as blood, to reduce the invasiveness of the test.