- NEW DELHI — Canadian
researchers have developed a skin-based test that can detect signature features
of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) -- a rare neurodegenerative disease
that affects body movements, including walking, balance, and swallowing.
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- The test could allow for more accurate and faster PSP
diagnosis than current methods, said the team from the University Health
Network (UHN) and the University of Toronto.
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- "This assay is important for assigning patients to the
correct clinical trials, but it will be even more important in the future as
researchers develop targeted, precision treatments for PSP," said Ivan
Martinez-Valbuena, a scientific associate at the Rossy Progressive Supranuclear
Palsy Centre at the UHN.
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- "We need diagnostic tools to be developed hand-in-hand
with new treatments so that as these treatments become available, we can
identify the patients who would benefit most," she added.
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- While researchers have successfully detected misfolded
proteins in neurodegenerative diseases, the technique has not always been
accessible, and some patients are unable to undergo the procedure.
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- As a result, patients are typically diagnosed based on their
symptoms and clinical presentation, so some patients may be misdiagnosed --
particularly for rarer neurodegenerative diseases such as PSP. This could also
have a negative impact on research since patients with PSP may be misdiagnosed
with Parkinson's disease and be included in a trial that targets the wrong
protein, influencing the results.
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- The new test, described in a recent issue of JAMA Neurology,
can detect a sequence of misfolded tau specific to PSP.
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- The results showed that “disease-associated tau protein can
be detected in the skin in living patients with high accuracy," said Gabor
Kovacs, professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at Toronto
University's Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
