Review of Technological Challenges in Personalised Medicine and Early Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Disorders

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2023-02, Vol.24 (4), p.3321
• Main Authors: Domínguez-Fernández, Celtia, Egiguren-Ortiz, June, Razquin, Jone, Gómez-Galán, Margarita, De Las Heras-García, Laura, Paredes-Rodríguez, Elena, Astigarraga, Egoitz, Miguélez, Cristina, Barreda-Gómez, Gabriel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer's disease; Animal cognition; Artificial Intelligence; Ataxia; biomarker; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - cerebrospinal fluid; Cerebrospinal fluid; Cognitive ability; Dementia; Diagnosis; Early Diagnosis; exosomes; Gait; Health aspects; Homeostasis; Humans; imaging techniques; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Memory; Mutation; Nervous system; Nervous system diseases; Neuroimaging; neuroinflammation; Neurons; New technology; Parkinson's disease; Patients; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Precision Medicine; Prediction models; Proteins; Quality of Life; Radiation; Review; Risk factors; Sleep; Spinal cord; Tomography; Tremor (Muscular contraction); Vitamin deficiency
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24043321

Neurodegenerative disorders are characterised by progressive neuron loss in specific brain areas. The most common are Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease; in both cases, diagnosis is based on clinical tests with limited capability to discriminate between similar neurodegenerative disorders and detect the early stages of the disease. It is common that by the time a patient is diagnosed with the disease, the level of neurodegeneration is already severe. Thus, it is critical to find new diagnostic methods that allow earlier and more accurate disease detection. This study reviews the methods available for the clinical diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and potentially interesting new technologies. Neuroimaging techniques are the most widely used in clinical practice, and new techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have significantly improved the diagnosis quality. Identifying biomarkers in peripheral samples such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid is a major focus of the current research on neurodegenerative diseases. The discovery of good markers could allow preventive screening to identify early or asymptomatic stages of the neurodegenerative process. These methods, in combination with artificial intelligence, could contribute to the generation of predictive models that will help clinicians in the early diagnosis, stratification, and prognostic assessment of patients, leading to improvements in patient treatment and quality of life.