Michell A W, Lewis S J G, Foltynie T, Barker R A
Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, CB2 2PY, UK.
Brain. 2004 Aug;127(Pt 8):1693-705. doi: 10.1093/brain/awh198. Epub 2004 Jun 23.
Biomarkers are characteristics that can be measured as an indicator of a normal biological process, and they have special relevance in Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that is difficult to study, given the site of pathology and because the resultant clinical phenotype fluctuates over time. We currently have no definitive diagnostic test, and thus for the clinician there is hope that biomarkers will help diagnose symptomatic and presymptomatic disease or provide surrogate end-points to demonstrate clinical efficacy of new treatments, such as neuroprotective therapies, and help stratify this heterogeneous disease. No biomarker is likely to fulfil all these functions, so we need to know how each has been validated in order to understand their uses and limitations, and be aware of potential pitfalls. In this review we discuss the current potential biomarkers for Parkinson's disease, highlight the problems with their use, and conclude with a discussion of future alternatives.
生物标志物是可作为正常生物过程指标进行测量的特征，它们在帕金森病中具有特殊意义。帕金森病是一种慢性神经退行性疾病，鉴于其病理部位以及由此产生的临床表型随时间波动，很难进行研究。我们目前没有确定性的诊断测试，因此对于临床医生来说，生物标志物有望帮助诊断有症状和无症状的疾病，或提供替代终点以证明新治疗方法（如神经保护疗法）的临床疗效，并有助于对这种异质性疾病进行分层。没有一种生物标志物可能满足所有这些功能，所以我们需要了解每种生物标志物是如何被验证的，以便理解它们的用途和局限性，并意识到潜在的陷阱。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了帕金森病目前潜在的生物标志物，强调了其使用中存在的问题，并以对未来替代方法的讨论作为结论。
