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Phosphorylated tau as a candidate biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

ABSTRACT: An increasingly varied clinical spectrum of cases with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been identified, and objective criteria for clinical trial eligibility are necessary.To develop a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of ALS.A case-control study including 51 individuals with ALS and 23 individuals with a disorder associated with a 4-repeat tauopathy was conducted at an academic medical center.The CSF level of tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (ptau) and ratio of ptau to total tau (ttau).Using a cross-validation prediction procedure, we found significantly reduced CSF levels of ptau and the ptau:ttau ratio in ALS relative to 4-repeat tauopathy and to controls. In the validation cohort, the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve for the ptau:ttau ratio was 0.916, and the comparison of ALS with 4-repeat tauopathy showed 92.0% sensitivity?and 91.7% specificity. Correct classification based on a low CSF ptau:ttau ratio was confirmed in 18 of 21 cases (86%) with autopsy-proved or genetically determined disease. In patients with available measures, ptau:ttau in ALS correlated with clinical measures of disease severity, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (n?=?51) and ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (n?=?42), and regression analyses related the ptau:ttau ratio to magnetic resonance imaging (n?=?10) evidence of disease in the corticospinal tract and white matter projections involving the prefrontal cortex.The CSF ptau:ttau ratio may be a candidate biomarker to provide objective support for the diagnosis of ALS.

SUBMITTER: Grossman M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3989393 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phosphorylated tau as a candidate biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Grossman Murray M Elman Lauren L McCluskey Leo L McMillan Corey T CT Boller Ashley A Powers John J Rascovsky Katya K Hu William W Shaw Les L Irwin David J DJ Lee Virginia M-Y VM Trojanowski John Q JQ

JAMA neurology 20140401 4

<h4>Importance</h4>An increasingly varied clinical spectrum of cases with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been identified, and objective criteria for clinical trial eligibility are necessary.<h4>Objective</h4>To develop a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of ALS.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>A case-control study including 51 individuals with ALS and 23 individuals with a disorder associated with a 4-repeat tauopathy was conducted at ...[more]

PMID: 24492862

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Project description:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal motor neuron disease that progressively debilitates neuronal cells that control voluntary muscle activity. Biomarkers are urgently needed to facilitate ALS diagnosis and prognosis, and as indicators of therapeutic response in clinical trials. microRNAs (miRNAs), small posttranscriptional modifiers of gene expression, are frequently altered in disease conditions. Besides their important regulatory role in variety of biological processes, miRNAs can also be released into the circulation by pathologically affected tissues and display remarkable stability in body fluids. In a mouse model of ALS that expresses mutated human superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1-G93A) skeletal muscle is one of the tissues affected early by mutant SOD1 toxicity. To find biomarkers for ALS, we studied miRNA alterations from skeletal muscle and plasma of SOD1-G93A mice, and subsequently tested the levels of the affected miRNAs in the serum from human ALS patients. Fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles from symptomatic SOD1-G93A mice (age 90 days) and their control littermates were first studied using miRNA microarrays and then evaluated with quantitative PCR from five age groups from neonatal to the terminal disease stage (10-120 days). Among those miRNA changed in various age/gender/muscle groups (miR-206, -1, -133a, -133b, -145, -21, -24), miR-206 was the only one consistently altered during the course of the disease pathology. In both sexes, mature miR-206 was increased in fast-twitch muscles preferably affected in the SOD1-G93A model, with highest expression towards the most severely affected animals. Importantly, miR-206 was also increased in the circulation of symptomatic animals and in a group of 12 definite ALS patients tested. We conclude that miR-206 is elevated in the circulation of symptomatic SOD1-G93A mice and possibly in human ALS patients. Although larger scale studies on ALS patients are warranted, miR-206 is a promising candidate biomarker for this motor neuron disease.

Dataset Information

Phosphorylated tau as a candidate biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Publications

Phosphorylated tau as a candidate biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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