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Biomarkers in spinal taps ‘hold promise’ for more accurate diagnosis in Alzheimer’s disease

Diagram showing how you have a lumbar puncture. (Credit: Cancer Research UK)

By Sharnita Midgett

The goal of detecting Alzheimer’s disease earlier and more accurately in patients with cognitive symptoms has led to the development of new diagnostic tools. One tool is the use of spinal taps, which provide physicians with samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that are analyzed for levels of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

In a recent U.S. News & World Report article, PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD, discussed how Alzheimer’s disease is being redefined as a biological disease, with three biomarkers: amyloid plaques, tau tangles and deterioration of the nervous system.

“It holds promise for a more accurate diagnosis for the subset of people who have those biomarkers,” he told U.S. News & World Report. “It holds great promise for the development of treatments that can target those biomarkers.”

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Weekly InSight: Alzheimer’s Disease and a Blood Test

A study published in the journal Nature Medicine flooded mainstream media and Facebook feeds this week with headlines and stories claiming that a blood test may be able to detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) more than a decade before symptoms appear.

One caveat overlooked or downplayed by many outlets, though: The study population involved individuals with a rare gene mutation that made them highly likely to develop AD.

“They are also generally significantly younger when they do,” PMC Co-Director David Wolk, MD, explained. “Such patients make up less than 1 percent of AD. So it remains to be seen how well this test will work in older individuals with more typical AD, but it is certainly promising as a marker of brain injury over time.” This injury could be due to Alzheimer’s disease but also many other brain diseases, added PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD.

In short: No, there is not yet a blood test able to predict Alzheimer’s.

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Goodbye Sunday Reads, Hello “Weekly InSight”

Letter from the Editor:
 
When we developed the Sunday Reads email in 2018, we said we welcomed feedback. And you, our readers, delivered.

You were less interested in hearing about all of the stories we were reading and discussion, more interested in hearing about why we found specific articles so noteworthy. You enjoyed when we turned the newsletter over to our social work team, and you wanted to hear from more academic disciplines at PMC and beyond. And one reader in particular challenged the name “Sunday Reads” after we sent it on a Wednesday the week of Thanksgiving. 

So we’re leaving “Sunday Reads” in 2018. This is our Weekly InSight, the email edition of our newsmagazine. We’ll tackle more individual issues and invite our colleagues to contribute short essays of their own. If there are specific topics or voices you’d like to see here, please let me know. 

-Terrence Casey

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2018 PMC Minority Scholars Complete Research Presentations, Projects

On Monday, Victor Ekuta gave a presentation on his research at PMC Didactics Meeting, a requirement for completing the PMC Minority Scholars in Aging Program. The presentation titled “Perturbing Brain States: A Look at Discrete Brain State Transitions Influenced by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation” focused on his work these past few months completed with PMC neurologist Roy Hamilton, MD, and John Medaglia, PhD.

Ekuta is a student at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He plans to pursue a residency in Neurology with a Fellowship in Cognitive/Behavioral Neurology in the future.

Mahdieh Hosseini, also a 2018 PMC Minority Scholar, completed her research project in August 2018. Her presentation on “Effect of HD-tCS on stimulating language recovery in patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia” was based on work completed over the summer in the lab of Dr. Roy Hamilton.

Hosseini is currently a student at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

Sunday Reads: InSight, Our Annual Magazine

Happy holidays and happy new year from all of us at the Penn Memory Center!

In the near future, you should receive a copy of InSight, our annual magazine (click the link for a digital copy). If you don’t receive a copy and would like one, please let me know. The Communications Team has worked hard on the publication, and we hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing, editing, and designing it, while recapping 2018.

In its pages, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about our research — especially the longitudinal Aging Brain Cohort study — and also get a look into the many other aspects that makes PMC unique. Read about our three-year history of Memory Café, our ongoing collaboration with the Curtis Institute of Music, and our involvement with the original opera Sky on Swings. You’ll also receive an update on the latest “Art of the Mind” exhibition, which involves copper work by Carl Duzen, our patient and resident artist. 

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Penn Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center announce pilot grants

University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging (IOA) and Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) announced that IOA and ADCC will fund up to six one-year multidisciplinary pilot grants in the 2019-2020 academic year, pending availability of funds. These grants will support biomedical, epidemiological, behavioral or health services research, as well as basic science, clinical or psychosocial research. Applications are due February 4, 2019.

Two of the pilots will be funded by Penn’s ADCC and will focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative disorders. The remaining pilots will be supported by funding from the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn (PSOM) to the IOA and will focus on aging and aging-related diseases. More information can be found here.

Join PMC for Memory Café on January 4

Join us for our free monthly Memory Café on January 4 featuring Darina Petrovsky, PhD, RN, who will provide education about Russian Nativity celebrated on January 7 and provide traditional Russian Christmas songs and carols. Dr. Darina Petrovsky is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and a former doctoral student at the Penn Memory Center. She is a pianist and a nurse by training.

Events will be held at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA. To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.


Friday, January 4
10:30 a.m. to Noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street, Philadelphia

RSVP: alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu

The ABC Study Experience

Florence Collins-Hardy (left) with her husband, Robert. Collins-Hardy has been an ABC study participant since 2014. (Linnea Langkammer / Penn Memory Center)

by Linnea Langkammer and Joyce Lee

Sandra Shulan is sitting next to her partner, Harry, in the Penn Memory Center (PMC) waiting room at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. She isn’t nervous. In fact, she’s quite looking forward to it.

Her first ABC study visit.

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Sunday Reads: Our Active Partnership With The Curtis Institute

Although our final Memory Café of the year concluded with Curtis Institute of Music last week, our relationship with the the world-class conservatory will continue into the new year.

Since 2015, the PMC has collaborated with the Curtis Institute for various programs including caregiver retreats, the annual Thank You Breakfast and Luncheons, Creative Expression Through Music, and Project HOME.

Our ongoing relationship is detailed in an article published on the PMC website.

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An ongoing duet with the Curtis Institute

by Sharnita Midgett

Classical music has filled the homes of Penn Memory Center patients since 2016, thanks to a unique partnership with a world-class conservatory.

Violist Rimbo Wong, then a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, worked with PMC to bring free classical performances to West Philadelphia. With her involvement in “Project HOME,” she hoped to shatter the stereotype that classical music is for exclusive audiences.

The Penn Memory Center and the Curtis Institute of Music have collaborated since 2015, sharing successful programs such as Memory Café, caregiver retreats, the annual Thank You Breakfast and Luncheons, Creative Expression Through Music, and Project HOME.

“The partnership between Curtis and the Penn Memory Center is a cherished one and yet another creative means for people to help understand, cope with, and make meaning out of their experiences,” said PMC Executive Director Felicia Greenfield, MSW, LCSW.

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