Sniffing out a test for Parkinson’s
● Woman who can smell the disease helps team make breakthrough
A Scottish woman with the ability to detect Parkinson’s disease through smell has helped scientists develop a ground-breaking new test.
It could help doctors diagnose patients sooner and identify those in the earliest stages of the disease who may benefit from experimental drugs aimed at protecting brain cells from being killed off.
Professor Perdita Barran, at the University of Manchester, said the test had the potential to significantly reduce the time taken to distinguish people with normal brain ageing from those with the first signs of the disorder.
The study was inspired by Joy Milne, 68, a retired nurse from Perth.
Most people cannot detect the scent of Parkinson’s, but some with a heightened sense of smell report a musky odour on those with the disorder. mrs Milne noticed the smell on her husband Les 12 years before he was diagnosed, and realised she could sniff out Parkinson’s when she attended a patient support group and found they all smelled the same.
She told Dr Tilo Kunath, a neurobiologist who studies Parkinson’s at Edinburgh University.
He tested her skills by having her sniff T-shirts worn by healthy people or Parkinson’s patients. Mrs Milne identified all those that had been worn by the patients – and said one more bore the same scent. Eight months later, the wearer was diagnosed with the disease.
Prof Barran, a lead author of the study, said: “What we found are some compounds that are more present in people who have got Parkinson’s disease and the reason we’ve discovered them is because Joy Milne could smell a difference. She could smell people who’ve got Parkinson’s disease.”
The scientists designed experiments to mimic Mrs Milne’s sense of smell by using a piece of equipment called a mass spectrometer. The “volatile biomarkers” they iden- tified could help to develop a simple test for early detection.
Prof Barran said: “What we hope is if we can diagnose people earlier, before the motor symptoms come in. There will be treatments that can prevent the disease spreading. So that’s really the ultimate ambition.”
Around one adult in every 350 in the UK has Parkinson’s, which can leave people struggling to walk.