--- title: Testing for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in the Skin description: There’s new hope that the first signs of these brain disorders may be lie in the skin canonical: https://time.com/3721009/a-simple-skin-test-may-detect-alzheimers/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-24T21:00:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:49.506Z article:section: Health og:title: The Key to Detecting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Early May Lie in the Skin og:description: There’s new hope that the first signs of these brain disorders may be lie in the skin og:url: https://time.com/3721009/a-simple-skin-test-may-detect-alzheimers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Key to Detecting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Early May Lie in the Skin twitter:description: There’s new hope that the first signs of these brain disorders may be lie in the skin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Simple Skin Test May Detect Alzheimer’s > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b4460bbf-4d07-4daf-bec1-2d9f2a0c102c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Ground Breaking Women Alzheimer's Study [Watch (HLS stream): Ground Breaking Women Alzheimer's Study](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7CumxY4I.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2014-03-19. A new Alzheimer's Association study finds that women far more susceptable to the disease than men._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 24, 2015 9:00 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 24, 2015 9:00 PM UTC Detecting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases [as early as possible](http://time.com/3590494/alzheimers-blood-test/) is critical. But while doctors know that the conditions can start 15 to 20 years before the symptoms appear, there aren’t many reliable ways of pinpointing exactly when that occurs. Now, scientists led by Dr. Ildefonso Rodriguez-Leyva at Central Hospital in University of San Luis Potosi in Mexico report that the skin may hold the clue to such early detection. **MORE** [Early Warning: Detecting Alzheimer’s in the Blood and Brain Before Memory Loss](http://healthland.time.com/2013/10/16/early-warning-detecting-alzheimers-in-the-blood-and-brain-before-memory-loss/) In a study that will be presented in April at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Rodriguez-Leyva found that compared to healthy patients and those with age-related dementia, patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases had seven times higher levels of an altered form of a protein called tau in skin biopsies, and Parkinson’s patients also showed seven to eight times greater levels of a harmful version of another protein known as alpha-synuclein. Researchers aren’t sure what alpha-synuclein’s role is in the brain, but in Parkinson’s patients, it tends to clump into harmful aggregates that interrupt normal nerve function. Tau is involved in the brain decline associated with Alzheimer’s; as nerve cells die, the normally aligned molecules of tau, which function like railroad tracks to transport nutrients, collapse, twisting into unorganized masses of tangled protein. “This skin test opens the possibility to see abnormal proteins in the skin before central nervous system symptoms — cognitive or motor deficits — appear,” Rodriguez-Leyva says. **MORE** [New Research on Understanding Alzheimer’s](http://time.com/83378/new-research-on-understanding-alzheimers/) Rodriguez-Leyva turned to the skin to look for signs of the altered brain proteins since the skin and brain share a common embryonic origin; while everyone makes the two proteins, those who go on to develop Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s seem to be especially vulnerable to having them fold in abnormal ways and stick together in damaging masses in the brain. If there were genetic signals dictating these sticky forms of the proteins, he speculated, then those signals might be detectable in the skin as well. “The ectoderm originates the nervous tissue and the skin,” he writes in an email to TIME discussing the study. “Our idea is that they have a similar program of protein expression. Therefore the skin could reflect events taking place in the nervous system.” **MORE** [New Test May Predict Alzheimer’s 10 Years Before Diagnosis](http://time.com/3590494/alzheimers-blood-test/) The study involved only a few dozen patients — 20 with Alzheimer’s, 16 Parkinson’s patients and 17 with age-related dementia, who were compared to 12 healthy controls — so more work needs to be done to confirm the findings. But the results hint that it may be possible to detect these neurodegenerative conditions sooner, and it also provides drug developers with more confidence that targeting abnormal forms of tau and alpha-synuclein may lead to effective treatments. _Read next:_ [_America’s Pain Killer Problem is Growing, Federal Data Shows_](http://time.com/3721251/cdc-pain-killers/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript [ NOISE ] The Breast Cancer Walks. The ribbons, the White House lit up in pink. I love the people around me. Like most women, Marilyn White had seen these symbols [ SOUND ]. She knew she should be concerned about breast cancer [ SOUND ]. But not Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers was not on my radar. I, you know I, I don't know why I had never paid any attention to it, but I guess in being busy it never dawned on me ooh [ INAUDIBLE ]. White was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago. And it should have been on her radar and on all women's radars, according to a new report from the Alzheimer's Association. If finds that women in the 60s are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease than they are to get Breast Cancer. And Alzheimer's Disease affects women more than men, almost two out of every three Alzheimer's patients are women. That's me. When she was younger, White felt invincible. She was an accomplished athlete. Brought home a silver medal in track and field at the 1964 Olympics. I'm right here. Now 69 years old, she wishes she had been more aware of Alzheimer's. It would've helped me, if I. News stage- by- stage what could happen. I think I would have caught it sooner. I would have recognize it sooner, and maybe been able to start a medication or something sooner. She was more aware of breast cancer [ CROSSTALK ] and found a lump in her breast. It was cancer. Now the cancer's gone. And Marilyn's a five- year survivor. But sadly, her Alzheimer's disease won't be going away. There are no effective treatments. Doctors [ CROSSTALK ] who treat Alzheimer's say more money and awareness can change that [ SOUND ]. They're competing with other diseases for dwindling research funds hoping to make their case for more money [ CROSSTALK ] for a cure. 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