Tau levels in platelets isolated from Huntington’s disease patients serve as a biomarker of disease severity
Tau is a microtubule protein that is known to be hyperphosphorylated and to aggregate in several chronic neurodegenerative disorders. In many cases, in particular in Alzheimer's disease, the degree of tau pathology has been demonstrated to correlate with cognitive deficits and/or decline. In Huntington's disease (HD), a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder, both cognitive impairments and abnormal tau expression have been reported to occur, along with the accumulation of the mutant huntingtin protein. In this respect, tau has been shown to be present in the cerebrospinal fluid of individuals with HD and to increase with disease progression. However, how this relates to changes in tau found in the periphery is largely unknown. In this study, we collected blood samples from patients with HD and isolated multiple blood components including plasma, platelets, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells to measure their tau levels and subsequently correlate these to cognitive impairments and disease stage. Our results suggest that the amount of tau, particularly N-terminal tau (NTA-tau) and total tau (t-tau), is elevated in all assayed blood components and that the quantity of tau within platelets, specifically, is strongly correlated with disease severity.
Authors
- Molly E. Boutin
- Juan Lantero‐Rodriguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7426-678X)
- Andréa Lessa Benedet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8219-1741)
- Richard Labib
- Maria Masnata
- Shaline V. Fazal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2813-4022)
- Melanie Alpaugh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2782-5454)
- Roger A. Barker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8843-7730)
- Francesca Cicchetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5490-1961)
- Hélèna L. Denis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1978-5058)
- Pedro Rosa‐Neto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9116-1376)
- Massimo Maiuri
- Sylvain Chouinard
- Henrik Zetterberg
- Kaj Blennow
- Uriel Manseau
Institutions
- Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (CA)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
- Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SE)
- Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux du Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (CA)
- Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- UK Dementia Research Institute (GB)
- Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval (CA)
- Centre Intégré Universitaire de Santé et de Services Sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal (CA)
- Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (CA)
- National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (GB)
- Université Laval (CA)
- University College London (GB)
- Polytechnique Montréal (CA)
- McGill University (CA)
- University of Guelph (CA)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Neurology
- Published
- 2025-03-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-025-12966-9
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Genetic Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.82
Funders
- Huntington's Disease Society of America
- Alzheimer's Association
- Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation
- Familjen Erling-Perssons Stiftelse
- Cure Alzheimer's Fund
- Wellcome Trust
- Stiftelsen för Gamla Tjänarinnor
- EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research
- UK Research and Innovation
- European Partnership on Metrology
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- University College London
- European Commission
- Hjärnfonden
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Alzheimerfonden
- UK Dementia Research Institute
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé
- Medical Research Council
- NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
- HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions