Summary: Researchers have created a skin-based test that can identify misfolded tau proteins that are specific to progressive supranuclear palsy ( PSP), making it possible to diagnose PSP more quickly and accurately than with traditional diagnostic tests. This development may enhance the ability to assign patients to clinical trials and ultimately lead to more focused, precise treatments.
In terms of separating PSP from other neurological diseases and good controls, the assay demonstrated 90 % sensitivity and 90 % specificity. To bring the test closer to medical use, researchers are now validating it through multidisciplinary tests.
Important Information
- High Specificity and Sensitivity: The skin-based PSP test achieved 90 % sensitivity.
- Skin tests are used to differentiate PSP from Parkinson’s and various situations.
- Clinical Potential: When treatments for misfolded tau are applicable, the assay may guide precision treatments.
University of Toronto supply
Researchers at the University Health Network ( UHN) and the University of Toronto have created a skin-based test that can identify the hallmarks of progressive supranuclear palsy ( PSP), a rare neurodegenerative condition that affects body movements like walking, balance, and swallowing.
The test, which the researchers describe in a subsequent issue of JAMA Neurology, may provide a more precise and quick method of diagnosing PSPs than existing techniques.
Ivan Martinez-Valbuena, a clinical associate at the Rossy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Center , at the UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute, and at the U of T’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, says:” This test is important for assigning people to the correct clinical testing, but it will be even more crucial as researchers develop targeted, detail solutions for PSP.”
” We need clinical equipment to be developed hand-in-hand with new solutions so that we can recognize the people who would gain the most from them as these therapies become available.”
In brain and nervous system tissues, misfolded proteins, generally beta synuclein or tau proteins, pass, eventually causing neurodegeneration and damage to the cells.
Although researchers have been able to identify these misfolded proteins in spinal smooth obtained through a lumbar puncture, the method is not always practical, and some people are unable to undergo the procedure.
In consequence, patients are typically diagnosed based on their signs and medical presentation, leading to misdiagnosis of some individuals, particularly for less common neurodegenerative conditions like PSP.  ,
This may have a negative impact on research because PSP people may be misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and been enrolled in a test that targets the wrong proteins, which might have an impact on the outcomes.  ,
An earlier research is the inspiration for the research that led to the PSP miracle. Prior to this study, Martinez-Valbuena and his colleagues created a check that could identify misfolded beta synuclein protein in the skin in Parkinson’s patients.
Although the exam is not yet obtainable for medical treatments, researchers have since validated that test and wish to use it in clinical studies.
The group wanted to use that check in PSP as well. The team developed a check that could identify a number of misfolded beta that were particular to PSP using the same technology as the alpha synuclein test.
Ivan reported for the first time in the writing that a disease-associated beta protein may be detected in the body of living patients with high accuracy, according to Gabor Kovacs, Martinez-Valbuena’s officer, a neuropathologist at UHN, and a principal analyst at the Tanz Centre, who is also a teacher of laboratory medication and pathobiology in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.  ,
Working in concert with colleagues from the Rossy PSP Centre, Martinez-Valbuena, Kovacs, and a clinical team led by Anthony Lang, who is the director of the Rossy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Centre, the Lily Safra Chair in Movement Disorders at UHN, and the Jack Clark Chair for Parkinson’s Disease Research at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, were able to obtain patient samples and validate the new test.  ,
When the researchers examined skin biopsies of PSP patients as well as those with multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, Parkinson’s disease, and healthy controls, they discovered misfolded tau in most PSP patients but much less frequently in other neurodegenerative diseases.
Importantly, the misfolded tau protein was not found in healthy controls or patients with Parkinson’s disease. Overall, the researchers discovered that the test had a 90 % sensitivity and 90 % specificity.  ,
” I’m so happy to see this exciting development of a new biomarker for this rare neurodegenerative disease, made possible by the close collaboration of world-leading scientists in Toronto,” says Dr. Graham Collingridge, senior investigator at Sinai Health’s Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and director of the Tanz Centre.
Martinez-Valbuena suggests that the test could be included in a panel of blood- and skin-based tests, along with clinical information, to aid in the development of more accurate diagnoses and more appropriate clinical trials.  ,
Martinez-Valbuena notes that it will be crucial to combine this skin-based assay with a patient’s clinical symptoms, which will enable us to obtain a much more accurate picture of the patient’s diagnosis.
We will have a better idea of the treatment each patient should receive once we have precise treatments that target these misfolded proteins.
Through a clinical trial at five PSP centers in North America and Europe, researchers are now able to validate the assay in more patients. The Toronto team will continue to research the assay to make sure use outside of major research centers is both feasible and convenient.
About this news from neuroscience and PSP research
Author: Eileen Hoftyzer
Source: University of Toronto
Contact: Eileen Hoftyzer – University of Toronto
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Disclosed access.
Ivan Martinez-Valbuena and colleagues ‘” Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Experience Four-Repeat Tau Seeding on the Skin.” AMA Neurology
Abstract
Patients with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Experience Four-Repeat Tau Seeding on the Skin.
A new tool has been created to support the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease ( PD ) and multiple system atrophy ( MSA ) with the development of -synuclein seeding amplification assays ( SAA ).
This technology makes it possible to find aggregated forms of -synuclein, which are the neuropathologic hallmark of these diseases, in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and in peripheral tissues, such as skin.
