Imagine if an early Parkinson’s diagnosis was as simple as taking a blood test.

That could soon be a reality thanks to important work happening at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dr. Chris Phenix, originally from Arcola, explains that by the time key Parkinson’s symptoms are evident, 30 to 40 per cent of the neurons responsible are already dead, and they can’t be revived.

In an effort to catch the disease in its earlier stages, Phenix and his team have developed a blood test using fluorescent probes developed right here at USask. With the probes, they can measure activity of a special enzyme, glucocerebrosidase, in potential Parkinson’s patients, and if activity is low, treatment therapies can begin as soon as possible.

“We shine light on the cells, and those enzymes that are labeled with our fluorescent probe shine light back at us, so we can actually detect the enzyme in a living cell.”

Because this test can be read in minutes, it removes the anxious wait for results while also getting rid of the need for a brain scan, which can be challenging and costly.

“(With brain scanning,) You have to use radioactive tracers. Those tracers have to, with very high molecular precision, label the enzyme and get into the brain. Our bodies are designed to keep stuff out of our brains.”

Phenix says research is a tireless job, but between his small-town grit and a grandmother who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, he has a passion to keep pursuing this work.

“That kind of personal connection, seeing how devastating Parkinson’s is to families and to people, is motivating, because research is, quite frankly, very difficult. Ninety per cent of everything we try fails.”

Phenix says the research is funded through two $75,000 grants from the Saskatchewan Health and Research Foundation. Next steps will include using the test to compare Parkinson’s patients to healthy individuals.

“Having the ability to get a snapshot of the enzyme activity of all those different cell types is something I haven’t seen reproduced anywhere else in the world. I think that’s definitely unique to our strategy that I think is going to be paying off long-term.”

Phenix hopes within a few years we’ll know if the method is worth pursuing on a larger scale.