Salivary Huntingtin protein is uniquely associated with clinical features of Huntington’s disease

Parkin, Georgia M.; Corey–Bloom, Jody; Snell, Chase; Smith, Haileigh; Laurenza, Angela; Daldin, Manuel; Bresciani, Alberto; Thomas, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-28019-y

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Prior research has primarily focused on CSF and blood, with only a limited number of publications reporting mHTT levels in saliva. 11,17,25 However, in these three body fluids, mHTT was difficult to detect in premanifest HDGECs and was undetectable in HCs. Our results showed that mHTT was detectable in tear fluid in all subjects (100%), including all premanifest HDGECs and all HCs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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High Levels of Mutant Huntingtin Protein in Tear Fluid From Huntington’s Disease Gene Expansion Carriers

Gijs,

Jorna,

Datson

et al. 2024

JMD

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Objective Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, fully penetrant, neurodegenerative disease that most commonly affects middle-aged adults. HD is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the <i>HTT</i> gene, resulting in the expression of mutant huntingtin (mHTT). Our aim was to detect and quantify mHTT in tear fluid, which, to our knowledge, has never been measured before.Methods We recruited 20 manifest and 13 premanifest HD gene expansion carriers, and 20 age-matched controls. All patients underwent detailed assessments, including the Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) total motor score (TMS) and total functional capacity (TFC) score. Tear fluid was collected using paper Schirmer’s strips. The level of tear mHTT was determined using single-molecule counting SMCxPRO technology.Results The average tear mHTT levels in manifest (67,223 ± 80,360 fM) and premanifest patients (55,561 ± 45,931 fM) were significantly higher than those in controls (1,622 ± 2,179 fM). We noted significant correlations between tear mHTT levels and CAG repeat length, “estimated years to diagnosis,” disease burden score and UHDRS TMS and TFC. The receiver operating curve demonstrated an almost perfect score (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.9975) when comparing controls to manifest patients. Similarly, the AUC between controls and premanifest patients was 0.9846. The optimal cutoff value for distinguishing between controls and manifest patients was 4,544 fM, whereas it was 6,596 fM for distinguishing between controls and premanifest patients.Conclusion Tear mHTT has potential for early and noninvasive detection of alterations in HD patients and could be integrated into both clinical trials and clinical diagnostics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Recently, saliva was reported to be a successful source for quan-tifying mHTT comparable to plasma mHTT. 17 Here, we report the results of the first study on HD biomarkers in the tear fluid of premanifest and manifest HDGECs compared to healthy controls (HCs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%