They identify a biomarker for frontotemporal dementia.

A study involving the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) in Barcelona has found “the first” biomarker that allows for differential diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia. And differentiate two proteins that accumulate in the brain in this neurodegenerative disease.

This pathology is characterized by the accumulation of two types of protein, called Tau and TDP-43And This biomarker allows them to be identified and differentiated using blood analysis. and an accuracy of more than 90%, the research center said in a statement on Tuesday.

This study, published in the journal Natural medicine under the leadership of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), opens up new possibilities for differential diagnostics in relation to other neurodegenerative pathologies such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which represents a step forward in patient classificationdesign of clinical trials and development of future treatments.

Oriol Dols-Icardo, researcher at IR Sant Pau

“Frontotemporal dementia It is a very complex and very heterogeneous disease from a clinical, genetic and neuropathological point of view.“that is, changes that occur in the brain,” explained researcher Oriol Dols-Icardo from the Dementia and Memory Neurobiology Group at IR Sant Pau.

“Urgent need”

He explained that in frontotemporal dementia, these changes are caused by the accumulation of tau and TDP-43 proteins, and stressed that Having non-invasive biomarkers was ‘an urgent need’ because until now it was only possible to find out “post-mortem” which of the two proteins had accumulated in the brain.

The study showed that extracellular vesicles (EVs) present in blood plasma contain measurable amounts of tau and TDP-43 proteins, which They play a key role in differentiating the type of neurodegenerative pathology.for example, in the case of frontotemporal dementia and ALS.

In this sense, according to Dols-Icardo, “In ALS, 97% of patients accumulate TDP-43. in the brain, whereas in frontotemporal dementia this percentage is about 50% and another 45% corresponds to tau protein.

The study, according to the researcher, showed that there is a correlation between the amount of tau protein or TDP-43 accumulated in the brain, neuronal damage and its severity.

About the study Data from 991 adults is analyzed and the data were reproduced and validated in an independent cohort from the Sant Pau Hospital Memory Unit with 287 participants.