Blood plasma reveals shared pathways in neurodegenerative diseases

Scientists know that many proteins and pathways are involved in the development and progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and that these proteins can be detected in the plasma of people with the conditions. But it hasn’t been clear exactly which proteins are distinct to one disease vs. shared among two or more of them, adding to the difficulty both of diagnosing these complex diseases from blood samples and of developing effective treatments.