The project, led by the Catalan company Linkcare, aims to launch an innovative solution that can improve early screening of the 270,000 new cases of this disease each year.
The Protein Folding and Conformational Diseases group of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the UAB, led by researcher Salvador Ventura, is involved in the European project Validation of α-synuclein Modifications in Parkinson's dIsoRder Evolution (VaMPiRE), coordinated by the Catalan company Linkcare. The project is focused on the early detection of Parkinson's disease, has a budget of 8 million euros and will run until 2029. The aim of the consortium, made up of more than a dozen European entities, is to develop and validate an innovative in vitro diagnostic test to detect the earliest stages of the disease, before it shows symptoms.
Linkcare, a registered European manufacturer of in vitro diagnostic tests, has received the support and a grant of 12,000 euros from the Government of Catalonia, through the agency for business competitiveness of the Ministry for Enterprise and Labour, ACCIÓ, an R&D&I Collaborative Programmes Vouchers to hire the services of a consultant who has helped them to prepare the European proposal. They have also received other support services through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), of which ACCIÓ is a member.
Structural protein studies: advancing the development of monoclonal antibodies for α-synuclein research
Under the framework of the project, the UAB Protein Folding and Conformational Diseases group led by Salvador Ventura will focus on understanding the structural features of the α-synuclein (α-Syn) protein, involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. The goal is to develop monoclonal antibodies capable of accurately identifying different isoforms of the protein and its SUMOylated variants, which are chemically modified forms of the protein.
To this end, the sequence and 3D structure of these α-Syn forms will be analysed to identify unique and exposed regions of the protein that can serve as targets for antibodies. From these findings, specific peptides will be designed to mimic these regions. A second European consortium partner will then use these peptides to immunise animal hosts, generating antibodies that can selectively bind to each α-Syn isoform.
"The ultimate goal is to create tools that help researchers distinguish between variants of α-Syn, advancing the understanding of its role in health and disease and paving the way for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies," explains Salvador Ventura, UAB researcher and scientific director of the Institute for Research and Innovation Parc Taulí (I3PT-CERCA).
According to Linkcare CEO Jim Roldan, "Parkinson's disease presents a complex challenge due to its progressive neurodegenerative nature, affecting several body systems". He adds that "some 270,000 cases are diagnosed each year worldwide" and, therefore, "the imminent availability of new treatments to halt or slow its progression makes early detection a top priority." In this sense, "in the future, early diagnostic tools will be necessary to detect it in very early stages, before the neurons are destroyed, because after that it is very difficult for them to come back to life," he emphasises.
