Revolutionary Detection Method Promises Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Monday - May 22 2023, 20:36 UTC - 1 year ago

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have made a major breakthrough in the field of diagnosis by introducing a revolutionary new approach to detect neurodegenerative diseases. This method, called Nano-QuIC, is not only 10 times more sensitive but also has a detection time of 4 hours instead of 14 hours compared to conventional methods.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have made a significant breakthrough in the field of diagnosis by creating a revolutionary new diagnostic method that promises to rapidly and accurately detect neurodegenerative diseases. This approach holds great promise for providing earlier treatment and reducing the impact of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in humans, as well as similar diseases in animals like chronic wasting disease. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nano Letters.

"This paper mainly focuses on chronic wasting disease in deer, but ultimately our goal is to expand the technology for a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s being the two main targets," said Sang-Hyun Oh, senior co-author of the paper and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "Our vision is to develop ultra-sensitive, powerful diagnostic techniques for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases so that we can detect biomarkers early on, perhaps allowing more time for the deployment of therapeutic agents that can slow down the disease progression. We want to help improve the lives of millions of people affected by neurodegenerative diseases." .

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, mad cow disease, and CWD (widely found in deer) share a common feature—the buildup of misfolded proteins in the central nervous system. Detecting these misfolded proteins is crucial for understanding and diagnosing these devastating disorders. However, existing diagnostic methods, like enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry, can be expensive, time-consuming, and limiting in terms of antibody specificity.

The University of Minnesota researchers’ method, dubbed Nano-QuIC (Nanoparticle-enhanced Quaking-Induced Conversion), significantly improves the performance of advanced protein-misfolding detection methods, such as the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories’ Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC) assay. The RT-QuIC method involves shaking a mixture of normal proteins with a small amount of misfolded protein, triggering a chain reaction that causes the proteins to multiply and allowing for the detection of these irregular proteins. Using tissue samples from deer, the University of Minnesota team demonstrated that adding 50-nanometer silica nanoparticles to RT-QuIC experiments dramatically reduces detection times from about 14 hours to only four hours and increases the sensitivity by a factor of 10.

A typical 14-hour detection cycle means that a lab technician can run only one test per normal working day. However, with a detection time of less than four hours, researchers can now run three or even four tests per day. Having a quicker and highly accurate detection method is particularly important for understanding and controlling transmission of CWD, a disease that is spreading in deer across North America, Scandinavia, and South Korea. The researchers believe that Nano-QuIC could eventually prove useful for detecting protein-misfolding diseases in hogs, elk, moose, and other animals, as well as in humans.

The University of Minnesota researchers’ groundbreaking study shows great promise for the development and refinement of their new diagnostic method. Not only does it have the potential to detect neurodegenerative diseases faster and more accurately, but it could also lead to better treatments and improved quality of life for people suffering from these conditions.