Oligomeric and phosphorylated alpha-synuclein as potential CSF biomarkers for Parkinson's disease.

Despite decades of intensive research, to date, there is no accepted diagnosis for Parkinson's disease (PD) based on biochemical analysis of blood or CSF. However, neurodegeneration in the brains of PD patients begins several years before the manifestation of the clinical symptoms, pointing to serious flaw/limitations in this approach