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Parkinson's Disease
It is estimated that 6.3 million people have Parkinson’s disease worldwide. The age of onset is usually over 60, but it is estimated that one in ten are diagnosed before the age of 50, with slightly more men than women affected. As symptoms worsen, people with the disease may have trouble walking, talking or doing simple tasks. They may also experience problems such as depression, sleep problems or trouble chewing, swallowing or speaking.
HUNT Biosciences can add significant value to new PD diagnostics and treatments through:
- Early markers for identification of non-motor related symptoms that are typically present several years prior to impaired motor functions
- Physiological markers for defining changes in autonomic functions
- Biomarkers to detect and define e.g. proteins in blood
- Identification and validation of other biomarkers related to early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of PD
- The development of new treatment options based on long term cohort information covering as many as three generations of family information about the progression of PD
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Health economy studies and subsequent documentation based on long-term follow-up of a large homogenous population
HUNT Biosciences key resources:
- Bio-repository and data
- HUNT has a stable and homogeneous population very low on immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the HUNT population is characterised through over 500 peer-reviewed publications, and more than 60 completed PhD degrees.
- The HUNT Parkinson’s disease cohort consists of more than 500 HUNT donors. The diagnosis has been verified by an experienced neurologist. Comprehensive information from questionnaires covering lifestyle parameters, such as exercise, family history and general quality of life is available for all donors.
- Regulatory approval and quality assurance
- Approval assistance with Norway as rapporteur reference/country (MRP or DCP)
- HUNT can provide documentation for new indications on existing drugs. As part of this, HUNT also may also offer clinical intervention studies on very well characterised donor groups
- HUNT Biobank is certified according to the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Standard
- Principal investigators and investigations
- HUNT Research Centre is part of the Medical Faculty at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and associated to the Trondheim University Hospital. More than 1,000 medical professionals are within this HUNT network
- Access to other registries
- Disease cohorts and matched controls can be identified using unique personal identification numbers (PIN) and clinical end-point registries (e.g. registries for cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia)
- Medication can be identified using the national prescription registry
- Hereditary factors related to disease linking HUNT to the national family registry
- Deceased donors can be matched using the national cause of death registry.
