1. Clinical Trial-Ready Patient Cohorts for Multiple System Atrophy: Coupling Biospecimen and iPSC Banking to Longitudinal Deep-Phenotyping.
- Author
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Ndayisaba A, Pitaro AT, Willett AS, Jones KA, de Gusmao CM, Olsen AL, Kim J, Rissanen E, Woods JK, Srinivasan SR, Nagy A, Nagy A, Mesidor M, Cicero S, Patel V, Oakley DH, Tuncali I, Taglieri-Noble K, Clark EC, Paulson J, Krolewski RC, Ho GP, Hung AY, Wills AM, Hayes MT, Macmore JP, Warren L, Bower PG, Langer CB, Kellerman LR, Humphreys CW, Glanz BI, Dielubanza EJ, Frosch MP, Freeman RL, Gibbons CH, Stefanova N, Chitnis T, Weiner HL, Scherzer CR, Scholz SW, Vuzman D, Cox LM, Wenning G, Schmahmann JD, Gupta AS, Novak P, Young GS, Feany MB, Singhal T, and Khurana V
- Subjects
- Animals, Humans, alpha-Synuclein genetics, alpha-Synuclein metabolism, Brain, Receptors, GABA metabolism, Multiple System Atrophy diagnostic imaging, Multiple System Atrophy genetics, Multiple System Atrophy therapy, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Parkinson Disease pathology
- Abstract
Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of unknown etiology characterized by widespread aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein in neurons and glia. Its orphan status, biological relationship to Parkinson's disease (PD), and rapid progression have sparked interest in drug development. One significant obstacle to therapeutics is disease heterogeneity. Here, we share our process of developing a clinical trial-ready cohort of MSA patients (69 patients in 2 years) within an outpatient clinical setting, and recruiting 20 of these patients into a longitudinal "n-of-few" clinical trial paradigm. First, we deeply phenotype our patients with clinical scales (UMSARS, BARS, MoCA, NMSS, and UPSIT) and tests designed to establish early differential diagnosis (including volumetric MRI, FDG-PET, MIBG scan, polysomnography, genetic testing, autonomic function tests, skin biopsy) or disease activity (PBR06-TSPO). Second, we longitudinally collect biospecimens (blood, CSF, stool) and clinical, biometric, and imaging data to generate antecedent disease-progression scores. Third, in our Mass General Brigham SCiN study (stem cells in neurodegeneration), we generate induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models from our patients, matched to biospecimens, including postmortem brain. We present 38 iPSC lines derived from MSA patients and relevant disease controls (spinocerebellar ataxia and PD, including alpha-synuclein triplication cases), 22 matched to whole-genome sequenced postmortem brain. iPSC models may facilitate matching patients to appropriate therapies, particularly in heterogeneous diseases for which patient-specific biology may elude animal models. We anticipate that deeply phenotyped and genotyped patient cohorts matched to cellular models will increase the likelihood of success in clinical trials for MSA., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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