Chinese researchers investigating Parkinson’s disease have made a curious discovery related to earwax that could improve the prospects of prevention and diagnosis.
A team based at Zhejiang University in Guangzhou has found that earwax tests could help with the early detection of the debilitating disease, which is difficult to treat and has no cure.
The researchers were following up on previous work showing that Parkinson’s sufferers’ sebum – an oily substance secreted through the skin – has a different odour than that of people without the disease.
Since earwax is largely made up of sebum, the team realised it would make for a potentially telling research target.
After screening samples taken from more than 200 people, the team found alterations in four volatile organic compounds – organic chemicals that easily evaporate into the air – in Parkinson’s patients’ earwax. These changes do not appear in the compounds in the sebum of those who do not have Parkinson’s.