VILIP-1 as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Parkinson's Disease

Objective/Rationale:             
Novel biomarkers are key for successful clinical development of Parkinson’s therapies. In Alzheimer’s disease the calcium sensing protein VILIP-1 (visinin-like protein 1) was recently established as a biomarker for early Alzheimer’s detection. Following neuronal damage VILIP-1 is released from neurons and penetrates the CSF and blood system. Since VILIP-1-expression is also reduced in Parkinson’s patients, our goal is to test whether CSF and/or blood levels of VILIP-1 can be utilized as a biomarker for progression of Parkinson’s disease.

Project Description:             
Blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from Parkinson’s and control patients will be obtained from the Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Center of Parkinsonism and Movement Disorders, in Kassel. These samples will analyzed for elevated VILIP-1 levels using a sensitive sandwich ELISA utilizing specific antibodies to VILIP-1. In this small proof-of-principle study the ELISA results for VILIP-1 will be compared to current biomarkers, such as synuclein a.

Relevance to Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease:                     
To this end no prognostic markers are available to identify individuals that are likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, and thus could benefit from early treatment options. Since VILIP-1 was recently established as a diagnostic as well as a prognostic biomarker for early Alzheimer’s detection, it may serve the same function for Parkinson’s disease. We expect to verify this hypothesis using a sensitive sandwich ELISA test for VILIP-1 detection in Parkinson’s cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples. This is a first exploratory approach with advanced PD subjects and neurological controls, which could be, dependent on the outcome, extended to early and de novo PD subjects controls.

Anticipated Outcome:          
The main goal of this research project is to test in a proof-of principle experiment the hypothesis that VILIP-1 levels, as determined by a sensitive sandwich ELISA detection method in CSF and plasma/serum samples, show significant differences between control versus Parkinson’s subjects. This is a first step to determine whether VILIP-1 should be further established as a novel biomarker for diagnosis and progression of Parkinson’s disease.