Only 3 Minutes Needed for Skin Swab Test to Detect Parkinson Disease

A noninvasive sampling technique can readily distinguish people with Parkinson disease from matched controls in less than 3 minutes, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“We are tremendously excited by these results, which take us closer to making a diagnostic test for Parkinson’s disease that could be used in clinic,” said study corresponding author Perdita Barran, BSc, Hons PhD, professor at The University of Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, England.

The technique uses sebum, an oily secretion from sebaceous glands under the skin, as a diagnostic biofluid. Connected to the endocrine system, sebum is rich in hydrophobic endogenous metabolites, the team explained. Altered sebum production is a well-recognized feature of Parkinson disease.

For the study, researchers used cotton swabs to sample the upper backs of 79 people with Parkinson disease and 71 healthy controls.

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“The sebum is transferred to filter paper from sampling swab, and we then cut this to a triangle, add a drop of solvent, apply a voltage, and this transfers compounds from the sebum into the mass spectrometer,” explained first author Depanjan Sarkar, PhD, of University of Manchester. “When we do this, we find more than 4000 unique compounds, of which 500 are different between people with Parkinson’s disease compared to the control participants.”

Based on the technique’s ability to differentiate between samples from people with and without Parkinson’s disease in the study, researchers see the findings as a major step toward a biomarker-based confirmatory test for to complement the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease.

The research team along with the University of Manchester has launched a spin-off company, Sebomix Ltd., to further develop the assay as well as investigate the technique’s potential to diagnose other conditions through sebum analysis.

“This test,” said researcher and professor Monty Silverdale, MD, PhD, “has the potential to massively improve the diagnosis and management of people with Parkinson’s disease."

References

Sarkar D, Sinclair E, Hway Lim S, et al. Paper spray ionization ion mobility mass spectrometry of sebum classifies biomarker classes for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. JACS. Published online September 7, 2022. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00300.

Parkinson’s breakthrough can diagnose disease from skin swabs in 3 minutes. News release. The University of Manchester; September 7, 2022. Accessed September 19, 2020.