The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg, the Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS) and the Hôpitaux Robert Schuman (HRS) have announced that the flagship National Centre of Excellence in Research on Parkinson's disease (NCER-PD) has joined the Michael J. Fox Foundation's Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative.
NCER-PD has become one of the 51 clinical sites participating in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), a landmark observational clinical study sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF).
Launched in 2010, PPMI is widely acknowledged as the most ambitious and impactful initiative in the history of research on Parkinson’s disease. It aims to develop biological markers of Parkinson's disease risk, onset and progression by establishing a large collection of clinical, imaging and biological samples in multiple cohorts, with the goal of advancing the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this neurodegenerative disease.
In a significant recent breakthrough, PPMI already made possible the development of a novel biological test for Parkinson’s disease (alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay - αSyn-SAA), which demonstrates high diagnostic accuracy, differentiates molecular subtypes and detects disease before movement symptoms arise. In the next phase of research, PPMI will expand its study population to include individuals who have not yet developed Parkinson's movement symptoms, but who may be at increased risk of developing the disease.
In this context, NCER-PD now qualifies as one of 51 recruitment sites for PPMI worldwide and will contribute to PPMI with what the partners described as Luxembourg's "unparalleled expertise in establishing diverse and deeply-characterised cohorts of participants". The research and medical establishments added that thousands of study participants in Luxembourg have already supported NCER-PD, namely through the initial cohort of 1,600 Parkinson's disease patients and matching control volunteers from Luxembourg and the Greater Region, as well as through two new "at-risk" cohorts, including people with risk factors such as REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and individuals carrying GBA1 gene mutations, in addition to participants from the Healthy Brain Ageing (HeBA) study.
"Although progress has been made in terms of improving PD [Parkinson's disease] diagnosis, we still need to further explore the role of a variety of factors in predicting the onset and progression of PD. To this end, the establishment of cohorts of individuals displaying known risk factors is a key element," explained Prof. Rejko Krüger, Director of Transversal Translational Medicine (TTM) at LIH, head of the Translational Neuroscience group at LCSB, neurologist at CHL and coordinator of NCER-PD. "We are therefore delighted to contribute to such a prestigious international clinical study with our knowledge and expertise in setting up such cohorts and in biomarker discovery and validation."
The NCER-PD consortium, led by the LIH in collaboration with the LCSB, the CHL, the HRS and the LNS, will be responsible for the recruitment of local participants (including both individuals living with Parkinson's disease and people at risk of developing it) at the Parkinson Research Clinic in the framework of the recently established Luxembourg Clinical and Translational Research Centre (LCTR- Fuerschungsklinik Lëtzebuerg).
Participant enrolment at the Luxembourg PPMI site began in April 2024 and is expected to last until December 2026, aiming to recruit at least 50 individuals. The first Luxembourgish participants are currently undergoing the screening process for recruitment. This includes individuals older than 60 years with risk factors such as decreased sense of smell (hyposmia), first-degree family member with Parkinson's disease, genetic mutations in the LRRK2 and/or GBA genes, or a diagnosis of REM sleep behaviour disorder. Additional follow-up visits will be planned for included participants.
"We are extremely grateful to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for the unique opportunity to join such a pioneering international study, and we look forward to collaborating within this global initiative on excellence in the field of Parkinson’s disease," added Prof. Krüger, also extending thanks to "all our current and prospective study participants for tangibly helping us in the ongoing fight against this neurodegenerative disease".
"Bringing in the power of community to expand our understanding of Parkinson's biology and the lived experience of patients is how the foundation has enabled today’s latest scientific breakthroughs," said MJFF Chief Scientific Officer Mark Frasier, PhD. "Through the support of patients, loved ones, supporters and study leaders worldwide, PPMI has transformed everything we know about how the disease starts and changes over time. With the expansion of PPMI sites worldwide, including our friends at Luxembourg's major research institutes, we're poised to keep critical momentum moving forward in the biological era of Parkinson's research."
This collaboration was made possible by the funding received from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) to establish the NCER-PD.
