March 2022 - Brain Support Network

Big News: PET Scan Detects Alpha-synuclein in Those with MSA (Alzforum)

Date March 26, 2022

Big News: PET Scan Detects Alpha-synuclein in Those with MSA (Alzforum)

Here’s an excerpt from an Alzforum article on this big research news:

For the first time, scientists have detected α-synuclein aggregates lurking in the brains of the living. This thanks to 18F-ACI-12589, a new tracer developed by AC Immune in Lausanne, Switzerland. Presented at AD/PD 2022…the first PET scans using the tracer showed uptake in the cerebellar white matter of people with multiple system atrophy (MSA). … Alas, PET signals were undetectable in the brains of people with other synucleinopathies, including Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, despite selective binding of the tracer to postmortem brain samples of people who had died with those disorders.

This tracer was studied in both types of MSA — MSA-cerebellar (MSA-c) and MSA-parkinsonian (MSA-p). Even in the MSA-p subtype, the cerebellum is affected by alpha-synuclein pathology. The Alzforum article notes:

Though people with either MSA subtype evinced binding in these regions, it was greater, on average, in those with MSA-c. Tracer uptake in cerebellar white matter completely distinguished people with MSA from controls and from those with other synucleinopathies, none of whom had significant uptake in this region.

These disorders are all synucleinopathies — multiple system atrophy (MSA), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). It is interesting that this new PET tracer only showed uptake in MSA. The Alzforum article asks this question:

Why the tracer fell short in people with other synucleinopathies remains unclear. [Reearchers] suspect it is because they have far fewer deposits, and tracer binding may have been too weak to detect them. Differences in α-synuclein fibril conformation, or in where the aggregates are in the brain, could also contribute.

The Alzforum article explained the decades-long difficulties in developing an alpha-synuclein tracer:

The road to synuclein imaging has been long and strewn with obstacles. Compared to amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, α-synuclein fibrils exist in low concentrations in the human brain. This, combined with its intracellular location and myriad structural conformations, makes α-synuclein a tough target for PET tracers.

See the full article on Alzforum:

In First for the Field, α-Synuclein PET. Only for Multiple System Atrophy
AlzForum
26 Mar 2022

This is exciting news!

“Chronic Disease, Your Healthy Spouse, and Sex” (article)

Date March 22, 2022

Posted by Anoki Casey

“Chronic Disease, Your Healthy Spouse, and Sex” (article)

Many chronic conditions (and medications used to treat these conditions) can affect sexual interest. This is true for all of the atypical parkinsonism disorders and Parkinson’s disease.

Health Central has a good article on this topic. Excerpt:

Marriage is hard for everyone, but it can be even harder when one person has a chronic condition. Disease, illness, and disability can make a partner seem like a different person. That’s no one’s fault, says Laurel Wittman, board president of the Well Spouse Association… “This is an area that people really struggle with,” she says. While some partners come together to find ways to sustain physical intimacy, for others the situation takes a huge toll on the relationship.

Read the full article here:

https://www.healthcentral.com/article/chronic-disease-your-healthy-spouse-and-sex
Chronic Disease, Your Healthy Spouse, and Sex
Health Central
March 21, 2022

“Genetic Testing May Influence Treatment of Neurologic Disorders”

Date March 1, 2022

Posted by Anoki Casey

“Genetic Testing May Influence Treatment of Neurologic Disorders”

Excerpts from this recent article in Brain & Life (brainandlife.org) magazine:

“Identifying genetic mutations associated with neurologic disorders may influence treatment and management—and inform decisions about getting tested. … Researchers are still working to understand exactly how these variants interact with each other and with the environment to cause disease. Many of the more common neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease are associated with less severe variants in multiple risk genes, but in some cases they are produced by variants in single causative genes. … If people have puzzling neurologic signs or symptoms, or if one or more neurologic conditions seem to run in their families, should they pursue genetic testing? The answer depends on the disorder and the usefulness of the information to people and their doctors, according to experts.”