Detection of alpha-synuclein seeding activity in tear fluid in patients with Parkinson’s disease
Detection of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) seeding activity in tear fluid (TF) offers a promising non-invasive biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD). α-Syn seeding amplification assay (αSynSAA) detected seeding activity in 67% of PD-TF, while non-synucleinopathy samples remained negative. Electron microscopy of seeding-positive end products revealed fibrillar structures morphologically consistent with results of αSynSAA. αSynSAA effectively distinguished PD from controls and prion diseases based on seeding activity in TF.
Authors
- Bastian Popper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1517-695X)
- Fabian Maass (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4077-2852)
- Shuyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7645-5448)
- Christoph van Riesen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1734-2421)
- Wiebke Möbius
- Sezgi Canaslan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5366-129X)
- Paul Lingor
- Matthias Schmitz
- Susana Da Silva Correia
- Inga Zerr
- Peter Hermann
Institutions
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DE)
- TUM Klinikum (DE)
- LMU Klinikum (DE)
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (DE)
- Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (DE)
- Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna (IT)
- Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine (DE)
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IT)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Parkinson s Disease
- Published
- 2026-02-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-026-01282-2
- Primary Topic
- Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Bundesministerium für Gesundheit
- Robert Koch Institut