The current state of biomarker research for Friedreich’s ataxia: a report from the 2018 FARA biomarker meeting

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Abstract

The 2018 FARA Biomarker Meeting highlighted the current state of development of biomarkers for Friedreich’s ataxia. A mass spectroscopy assay to sensitively measure mature frataxin (reduction of which is the root cause of disease) is being developed. Biomarkers to monitor neurological disease progression include imaging, electrophysiological measures and measures of nerve function, which may be measured either in serum and/or through imaging-based technologies. Potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers include metabolic and protein biomarkers and markers of nerve damage. Cardiac imaging and serum biomarkers may reflect cardiac disease progression. Considerable progress has been made in the development of biomarkers for various contexts of use, but further work is needed in terms of larger longitudinal multisite studies, and identification of novel biomarkers for additional use cases

Lay abstract

Biomarkers are characteristics that can be objectively measured, evaluated and used as indicators of disease progression or the effect of a therapy. Friedreich’s ataxia is a progressive multisystem neuromuscular disease with no treatment. Current clinical measures cannot robustly detect disease progression in less than a year, meaning that clinical trials are long and drug development is slow. The Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance and the scientific community are looking for biomarkers that show change in shorter time frames that can accelerate drug development. The 2018 FARA Biomarker Meeting summarized the exciting findings that represent the current state of the field.

Most cited references 43

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Friedreich's ataxia: pathology, pathogenesis, and molecular genetics.

Arnulf H Koeppen (2011)

The pathogenic mutation in Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is a homozygous guanine-adenine-adenine (GAA) trinucleotide repeat expansion on chromosome 9q13 that causes a transcriptional defect of the frataxin gene. Deficiency of frataxin, a small mitochondrial protein, is responsible for all clinical and morphological manifestations of FRDA. This autosomal recessive disease affects central and peripheral nervous systems, heart, skeleton, and endocrine pancreas. Long expansions lead to early onset, severe clinical illness, and death in young adult life. Patients with short expansions have a later onset and a more benign course. Some are not diagnosed during life. The neurological phenotype reflects lesions in dorsal root ganglia (DRG), sensory peripheral nerves, corticospinal tracts, and dentate nuclei (DN). Most patients succumb to cardiomyopathy, and many become diabetic during the course of their disease. This review seeks to reconcile the diverse clinical features with pathological and molecular data. In the pathogenesis of the lesion in DRG, dorsal spinal roots, and sensory peripheral nerves, developmental defects and atrophy occur in combination. The progressive lesion of the DN lacks a known developmental component. Destruction of the DN, optic atrophy, and degeneration of the corticospinal tracts are intrinsic central nervous system lesions. Fiber loss in dorsal columns and spinocerebellar tracts, and atrophy of the neurons in the dorsal nuclei of Clarke are secondary to the lesion in DRG. The role of frataxin deficiency in the pathogenesis of FRDA is still unclear because the protein has multiple functions in the normal state, including biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters; iron chaperoning; iron storage; and control of iron-mediated oxidative tissue damage. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Histone deacetylase inhibitors reverse gene silencing in Friedreich's ataxia.

Jonathan D Herman, Joel M. Gottesfeld, Elisabetta Soragni … (2006)

Expansion of GAA x TTC triplets within an intron in FXN (the gene encoding frataxin) leads to transcription silencing, forming the molecular basis for the neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia. Gene silencing at expanded FXN alleles is accompanied by hypoacetylation of histones H3 and H4 and trimethylation of histone H3 at Lys9, observations that are consistent with a heterochromatin-mediated repression mechanism. We describe the synthesis and characterization of a class of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that reverse FXN silencing in primary lymphocytes from individuals with Friedreich's ataxia. We show that these molecules directly affect the histones associated with FXN, increasing acetylation at particular lysine residues on histones H3 and H4 (H3K14, H4K5 and H4K12). This class of HDAC inhibitors may yield therapeutics for Friedreich's ataxia.

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Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance predicts adverse cardiovascular outcomes in nonischemic cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Santosh Katwal, Nebiyu Adenaw, M. Lipinski … (2014)

Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) by cardiac MR (CMR) is a predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). However, these findings are limited by single-center studies, small sample sizes, and low event rates. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic role of LGE by CMR (LGE-CMR) imaging in patients with NICM. PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, and EMBASE were searched for studies looking at the prognostic value of LGE-CMR in patients with NICM. The primary end points included all-cause mortality, heart failure hospitalization, and a composite end point of sudden cardiac death (SCD) or aborted SCD. Pooling of odds ratios was performed using a random-effect model, and annualized event rates were assessed. Data were included from 9 studies with a total of 1488 patients and a mean follow-up of 30 months. Patients had a mean age of 52 years, 67% were men, and the average left ventricular ejection fraction was 37% on CMR. LGE was present in 38% of patients. Patients with LGE had increased overall mortality (odds ratio, 3.27; P<0.00001), heart failure hospitalization (odds ratio, 2.91; P=0.02), and SCD/aborted SCD (odds ratio, 5.32; P<0.00001) compared with those without LGE. The annualized event rates for mortality were 4.7% for LGE+ subjects versus 1.7% for LGE- subjects (P=0.01), 5.03% versus 1.8% for heart failure hospitalization (P=0.002), and 6.0% versus 1.2% for SCD/aborted SCD (P<0.001). LGE in patients with NICM is associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality, heart failure hospitalization, and SCD. Detection of LGE by CMR has excellent prognostic characteristics and may help guide risk stratification and management in patients with NICM.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Future Sci OA

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Future Sci OA

Journal ID (publisher-id): FSOA

Title: Future Science OA

Publisher: Future Science Ltd (London, UK )

ISSN (Electronic): 2056-5623

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 28 June 2019

Publication date Collection: July 2019

Volume: 5

Issue: 6

Electronic Location Identifier: FSO398

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics Perelman School of Medicine, Penn SRP Center and Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

[2 ]Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance, 533 W Uwchlan Ave Downingtown, PA 19335, USA

[3 ]Voyager Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

[4 ]Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

[5 ]Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), 1825 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA

[6 ]Department of Medicine, Division of Pediatrics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, IN 46202, USA

[7 ]Department of Neurology McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

Author notes

[* ]Author for correspondence: jane.larkindale@ 123456curefa.org

Article

DOI: 10.2144/fsoa-2019-0026

PMC ID: 6609901

PubMed ID: 31285843

SO-VID: 87a1d375-1ddc-412c-82ff-2519231f3f4a

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

History

Date received : 27 February 2019

Date accepted : 01 May 2019

Date: 28 June 2019

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Pages: 15

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The current state of biomarker research for Friedreich’s ataxia: a report from the 2018 FARA biomarker meeting

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Abstract

Lay abstract

Most cited references 43

Friedreich's ataxia: pathology, pathogenesis, and molecular genetics.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors reverse gene silencing in Friedreich's ataxia.

Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance predicts adverse cardiovascular outcomes in nonischemic cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Cited by 13

Most referenced authors 965