A biomarker for Parkinson’s?  Maybe… (If you don’t have a free ResearchGate account, yu might not be able t see this link):

A blood marker for Parkinson’s Disease: Neuronal exosome-derived α-synuclein

This isn’t in print yet, so I’ll just quote frm the abstract:

18 To date, no reliable clinically applicable biomarker has been established for Parkinson’s
19 disease (PD). Our results indicate that a long hoped blood test for Parkinson’s disease may
20 be realized. We here assess the potential of pathological α-synuclein originating from
21 neuron-derived exosomes from blood plasma as a possible biomarker. Following the
22 isolation of neuron-derived exosomes from plasma of PD patients and non-PD individuals
23 immunoblot analyses were performed to detect exosomal α-synuclein. Under native
24 conditions significantly increased signals of disease-associated α-synuclein forms in neuron25 derived exosomes were measured in all individuals with PD and clearly distinguished PD
26 samples from controls. By performing a protein misfolding cyclic amplification assay these
27 aggregates could be amplified and seeding could be demonstrated. Moreover, the
28 aggregates exhibited β-sheet-rich structures and showed a fibrillary appearance. Our study
29 demonstrates that the detection of pathological α-synuclein conformers from neuron-derived
30 exosomes from plasma samples has the potential of a promising blood-biomarker of PD.

Exosomes are small bundles of proteins  enclosed by a membrane (if I understand it correctly)(feel free to correct me- the Wikipedia article hd a note saying that it was too technical for most readers – and I agree).

Exosomes contain material from the cells from which they originated, so might be used as biomarkers. Obviously, it will take a while to fund the research and develop some way to determine how far along the way to developing PD someone is.  But the sooner a person can deal with it, the better the opportunity to live well with it. I look forward to the development of biomarkers that will help predict who might get Parkinson’s, so those folks can take preventive action.

I am fortunate that my symptoms did not appear in the usual sequence,and that I had DBS early after diagnosis, have had an outstanding medical team looking out for me and working with me, have a strong local community supporting people with Parkinson’s, and have a care partner who makes sure that my diet is full of organic foods, produce, and as few highly processed foods as possible. And I get lots of exercise, considering that I’m not athletic and I am not into weightlifting or bodybuilding.

Lucky me.

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