title: Biomarkers for prediction and targeted prevention of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases: evaluation of drug clinical efficacy.
abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are considered disorders of multifactorial origin, inevitably progressive and having a long preclinical period. Therefore, the availability of biological markers or biomarkers (BMs) for early disease diagnosis will impact the management of AD and PD in several dimensions; it will 1) help to capture high-risk individuals before symptoms develop, a stage where prevention efforts might be expected to have their greatest impact; 2) provide a measure of disease progression that can be evaluated objectively, while clinical measures are much less accurate; 3) help to discriminate between true AD or PD and other causes of a similar clinical syndrome; 4) delineate pathophysiological processes responsible for the disease; 5) determine the clinical efficacy of novel, disease-modifying (neuroprotective) strategies. In the long run the availability of reliable BMs will significantly advance the research and therapeutics of AD and PD.
authors.affiliation: Eve Topf Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research and Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Silvia A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.forename: Micaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Halperin
authors.forename: Amos D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Korczyn