Susan Mendick

TL;DR: The Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) is a comprehensive observational, international, multi-center study designed to identify PD progression biomarkers both to improve understanding of disease etiology and course and to provide crucial tools to enhance the likelihood of success of PD modifying therapeutic trials.

TL;DR: It is found that measures of CSF Aβ1-42, T-t Tau, P-tau181, and α-synuclein have prognostic and diagnostic potential in early-stage PD.

TL;DR: Mutations in the parkin gene occur among individuals with PD with an older age at onset (≥60 years) who have a positive family history of the disease, and the clinical findings of parkin-positive individuals are remarkably similar to those without mutations.

TL;DR: Assessment of hyposmic subjects using more specific markers for degeneration, such as dopamine transporter imaging, will evaluate whether combining hyposmia and other nonmotor features is useful in assessing the risk of future neurodegeneration.

TL;DR: This work has expanded the sample to include 150 families meeting the strictest diagnostic definition of verified PD, and performs analyses using only those pedigrees with the strongest family history of PD, which strongly suggests that variation in a gene on chromosome 2q36-37 contributes to PD susceptibility.