NEW YORK – Amprion said on Wednesday that the Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias within the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Research Program will study levels of misfolded alpha-synuclein proteins in Alzheimer's disease patients using its biomarker test.
Investigators will use Amprion's SYNTap cerebrospinal fluid test to detect misfolded proteins associated with neurodegenerative disorders as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, an NIH-funded study to validate biomarkers that can be used in Alzheimer's treatment trials.
Previous research has suggested that around one-third of Alzheimer's patients have a second disease driven by misfolded alpha-synuclein, resulting in more rapidly progressive symptoms, according to San Diego-based Amprion. Alzheimer's patients may also respond differently to treatments than patients with mixed dementia, and Amprion wants to partner with biopharmaceutical companies to identify new biomarker-informed drugs.
"The collaboration will help determine the extent to which alpha-synuclein occurs in patients with various stages of Alzheimer's disease and in unaffected aged individuals," Mike Weiner, principal investigator of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, said in a statement. "This project has the potential to improve clinical diagnosis of dementia and advance clinical trials of treatments for Alzheimer's disease."