Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI)
Highlights
Since 2010, PPMI has become the most robust and comprehensive Parkinson’s study of its kind. The study pairs biosamples (including cerebrospinal fluid, DNA, RNA, plasma, serum, whole blood, urine, saliva, skin, induced pluripotent stem cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells) with clinical and imaging data to understand the underlying changes in the body as Parkinson’s starts and progresses. Check out a few PPMI highlights below.
PPMI Around the Globe
PPMI has recruited more than 4,200 study participants – people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease, individuals with risk factors, and healthy control individuals – enrolled across 50 sites in 12 countries, contributing data and samples over at least five years.
PPMI makes its dataset and biorepository – the most robust in Parkinson’s disease to date – available to academia and industry to accelerate breakthroughs. Researchers around the world have downloaded PPMI data over 48 million times, and the study has fielded more than 400 biosample requests. PPMI data is also a cornerstone of larger data harmonization initiatives, such as AMP® PDRD, which is supported by ASAP and MJFF.
- For researchers: Access data from PPMI
- For potential participants: Learn how to get involved through The Michael J. Fox Foundation
ASAP & PPMI
ASAP’s support of PPMI is enabling its seismic expansion with the goal of developing novel tools for precision medicine approaches and earlier intervention strategies – infrastructure that provides a ready platform for future discoveries. This funding enables the study to:
- Increase recruitment: Grow PPMI’s participant base to more than 5,000 people across 50 sites. Half of these new study participants will have genetic or clinical risk factors for Parkinson’s disease but not yet show symptoms.
- Enhance remote testing: Develop and use new remote testing methods for those at risk.
- Launch a new online platform: Collect health data and screen for Parkinson’s disease risk factors using a digital tool now open to anyone in the U.S. and U.K. (with plans for further global expansion). This platform helps identify potential participants for further testing and site enrollment.
- Continue long-term follow-up: Maintain long-term engagement with the original study cohort, providing an unprecedented look at how the disease progresses over time, from early molecular changes to later-stage symptoms.
PPMI's Journey
View the timeline below for a high level overview of select PPMI milestones.
“PPMI lays the groundwork for progress toward new treatments and cures. With ASAP support, we are able to exponentially grow the impact of our study and move closer to stopping disease before it starts.”
– Sohini Chowdhury, MJFF Deputy CEO and Head of Research
PPMI Outputs in the ASAP Catalog
PPMI has developed tools and research outputs that the scientific community can utilize to support research endeavors. To learn more about PPMI outputs, visit the ASAP Catalog, which lists the publicly available, ASAP-funded research outputs produced through the ASAP initiative.
