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Kathrin Brockmann, MD, is senior consultant neurologist and head of the outpatient clinic for Parkinson’s Disease at the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Center of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Germany. As Research Group Leader at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research in Tübingen, her main areas of research are large scale longitudinal studies to better understand the different phases of neurodegeneration as well as symptom development and progression in PD.
view moreCredit: Kathrin Brockmann, MD
Amsterdam, December 21, 2023 – The Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and its publisher IOS Press are proud to announce the two articles that have won the 2023 Parkinson Prizes. The authors of these articles are being recognized for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of Parkinson’s disease (PD) research. Recipients of the award are co-authors Milan Zimmermann, MD, and Kathrin Brockmann, MD, both at the University of Tübingen (basic research article), and Dareia S. Roos, MD, PhD candidate, Amsterdam UMC (clinical research article).
The award-winning papers are:
Basic Research
Zimmermann M, Brockmann K. Blood and Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers of Inflammation in Parkinson's Disease. J Parkinsons Dis. 2022;12(s1):S183-S200. doi: 10.3233/JPD-223277.
Clinical Research
Roos DS, Klein M, Deeg DJH, Doty RL, Berendse HW. Prevalence of Prodromal Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease in the Late Middle-Aged Population. J Parkinsons Dis. 2022;12(3):967-974. doi: 10.3233/JPD-213007.
The papers for this annual award were selected by members of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease’s Editorial Board from over 220 articles published in 2022. Awardees will receive a commemorative trophy and a cash award of $1,000 (per article).
“Together with the Editorial Board of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, we congratulate the authors of the winning papers. We are pleased to have the opportunity to publish these important contributions to the field, and we look forward to more high-quality submissions to the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease in the upcoming year,” stated Editors-in-Chief Bastiaan Bloem, MD, PhD, FRCPE, and Lorraine Kalia, MD, PhD, FRCPC.
IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH
The study by Zimmermann, Brockmann, and co-investigators builds on findings over the last decade when it became clear that inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PD and has a relevant impact on incidence and phenotypical characteristics. However, the field still faces several open questions in preparation of clinical trials targeting the immune system. Consequently, this study provides a comprehensive overview with focus on inflammatory biofluid markers in serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and specifically addresses the following questions: 1. What evidence do we have for pro-inflammatory profiles in blood and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of sporadic and genetic PD patients? 2. Is there a role of anti-inflammatory mediators in blood/CSF? 3. Are inflammatory profiles in blood that reflect those in CSF indicative of a cross-talk between periphery and brain? 4. Do blood/CSF inflammatory profiles change over the disease course as assessed in repeatedly taken biosamples? 5. Are blood/CSF inflammatory profiles associated with phenotypical trajectories in PD? 6. Are blood/CSF inflammatory profiles associated with CSF levels of neurodegenerative/PD-specific biomarkers? Addressing these questions should help inform future strategies for patient stratification and cohort enrichment as well as suitable target engagement measures for clinical trials.
“This work has only been possible through the dedicated work of all members of our Research Group and through the tremendous engagement of people with PD over all the years,” commented PD Dr. Brockmann. “It is an honor to receive this award. Dr. Zimmermann and I would also like to thank the many scientific collaborators as well as the support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).”
The findings presented by Roos et al determine the prevalence of a selection of non-motor symptoms that are known to be associated with an increased risk of developing PD in a large middle-aged population. They analyzed the prevalence of six non-motor prodromal symptoms of PD systematically documented in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), namely: hyposmia, cognitive impairment, possible REM sleep behavior disorder, constipation, depression, and anxiety. More than 10% of individuals in this late middle-aged population had two or more known PD risk factors. These subjects also had reduced physical performance and reported more PD symptoms, which suggest that at least some of these subjects may be in the prodromal phase of PD.
“My co-authors and I are very proud to have won this prize. We would like to thank the editorial team at the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease for this honor. We are very pleased that attention is being paid to our study,” commented Dr. Roos. “Longitudinal follow-up of our study sample is necessary. With the current development of disease-modifying treatment, the need to accurately identify prodromal PD patients increases. Our study contributes to this early recognition using non-invasive tests. We look forward to analyzing the follow-up data.
2023 PARKINSON PRIZE RECIPIENTS
Kathrin Brockmann, MD, is senior consultant neurologist and head of the outpatient clinic for Parkinson’s Disease at the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Center of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Germany. As Research Group Leader at the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research in Tübingen, her main areas of research are large scale longitudinal studies to better understand the different phases of neurodegeneration as well as symptom development and progression in PD. In this context, she focuses on patient stratification according to genetic architecture and the underlying pathologic processes, reflected by profiles in patient biomaterials. This allows her to directly translate research findings into the clinics and introduce patients to pathway-specific therapies.
Milan Zimmermann, MD, is a neurologist at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany, where he also completed his neurology residency in the Department for Neurodegenerative Diseases under the direction of Professor Thomas Gasser. He specialized in movement disorders, with a particular focus on PD and dementia. In addition to his clinical training, he engaged in clinical research exploring fluid biomarkers in PD. In this context he focuses on the association between aging processes and neurodegeneration.
Dareia Roos, MD, PhD candidate, is a neurologist specialized in movement disorders at Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands. She received her MD from Leiden University. She did her neurology residency at the VU University Medical Center and also a fellowship in movement disorders. She then joined the staff at the VU University Medical Center, now part of Amsterdam UMC. Her first experience with research on PD was during her medical studies. This continued while pursuing her PhD focusing on olfactory function and cognition in PD with Professors Henk Berendse and Martin Klein, which is almost completed. She is also a general board member of the Amsterdamsche Neurologen Vereeniging (Amsterdam Neurologists Association).