Cerebrospinal fluid TMEM106B levels were linked to disease severity in frontotemporal dementia
Original source
Clinical Associations of Cerebrospinal Fluid TMEM106B in Familial and Sporadic Frontotemporal Dementia. (opens in a new tab)Compass summarised this from the study's abstract.
Study details
- Studied in
- Human
Lower cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) TMEM106B levels were associated with more severe disease, smaller frontotemporal brain volumes and faster clinical progression in people with frontotemporal lobar degeneration. The findings came from discovery and validation cohorts that included sporadic and genetic forms of frontotemporal dementia.
Why this matters
The result may support future studies of TMEM106B as a biomarker in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. This study did not examine amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or motor neurone disease, so it does not change ALS/MND diagnosis or treatment.
Limitations and context
This was a cross-sectional multicenter study with a two-year follow-up, not a treatment trial. The analysis included 271 people in the discovery cohort and 383 in the validation cohort, and CSF TMEM106B levels were affected by genotype. Levels did not distinguish frontotemporal lobar degeneration subtypes from Alzheimer disease, so further research is needed before this can be used as a clinical tool or extended to ALS/MND.