NIH Scientists Develop Test for Uncommon Brain Diseases | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

NIH Scientists Develop Test for Uncommon Brain Diseases | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 NIAID Scientists Develop Test for Rare Brain Diseases Related to Alzheimer’s NIAID scientists have developed an ultrasensitive new test to detect abnormal forms of tau protein associated with uncommon brain diseases called tauopathies. As they describe in Acta Neuropathologica, this advance gives them hope of using cerebrospinal fluid—an accessible patient sample—rather than brain tissue to diagnose these and perhaps other, more common neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. The new test is called 4R RT-QuIC—which stands for 4-repeat tau protein amplified in a real-time, quaking-induced conversion process.