A new blood test developed by Israeli and British researchers offers a fast, affordable, and highly accurate tool to identify Parkinson’s disease in its earliest stages even before symptoms start to appear, according to The Press Service of Israel (TPS-IL).

Parkinson’s, a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder, affects more than 10 million people worldwide, with incidence increasing as the global population ages. Symptoms typically begin with tremors, stiffness, and slowed movement, and progress to cognitive and behavioral changes. While medications can help manage symptoms, there is currently no cure.

One of the major challenges in treating Parkinson’s is that by the time it is diagnosed, much of the neurological damage has already occurred.

Addressing this gap, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently unveiled a groundbreaking blood test capable of detecting Parkinson’s disease before clinical symptoms arise.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Aging Nature journal, was led by PhD student Nimrod Madrer under the supervision of Prof. Hermona Soreq at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Iddo Paldor of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Dr. Eyal Soreq of the University of Surrey and Imperial College London.

Pre-symptomatic detection of Parkinson’s opens a door for earlier interventions, potentially slowing or halting the disease’s progression. People with a family history of Parkinson’s, certain genetic markers, or early non-motor symptoms such as REM sleep behavior disorder could be screened regularly.

Because RGTTCRA-tRF levels respond to treatment, the test could be used to track disease activity over time and help clinicians assess whether a therapy is working or needs adjustment. This could also enable pharmaceutical and biotech companies to use the test to identify pre-symptomatic participants for clinical trials, especially for drugs targeting early-stage Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s is often misdiagnosed or confused with other movement disorders. By detecting observable changes in specific RNA fragments, the test reduces diagnostic uncertainty.

Moreover, the test is based on a widely used and inexpensive lab technique called qPCR, making it scalable for use in community clinics.

Broader clinical validation is underway to support large-scale deployment.