Molecular Sensor Detects Early Signs of Multiple Sclerosis

December 3, 2013  —  By Neuroscience News

Innovative approach in animal models could one day serve as early indicator of disease.

For some, the disease multiple sclerosis (MS) attacks its victims slowly and progressively over a period of many years. For others, it strikes without warning in fits and starts. But all patients share one thing in common: the disease had long been present in their nervous systems, hiding under the radar from even the most sophisticated detection methods. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have devised a new molecular sensor that can detect MS at its earliest stages—even before the onset of physical signs.

In a new study from the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Katerina Akassoglou, PhD, scientists reveal in animal models that the heightened activity of a protein called thrombin in the brain could serve as an early indicator of MS. By developing a fluorescently labeled probe specifically designed to track thrombin, the team found that active thrombin could be detected at the earliest phases of MS—and that this active thrombin correlates with disease severity. These findings, reported online inAnnals of Neurology, could spur the development of a much-needed early-detection method for this devastating disease.

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