A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition. One of the unmet medical needs in PD, are tools for better diagnosis, prognosis, and efficacy of treatment, which reflects the disease course of the individual patient. Alpha-Synuclein (α-Synuclein) is a hallmark of synu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Signe Holm Nielsen, Cecilie Møller Hausgaard, Meryem Benmarce, Morten Karsdal, Kim Henriksen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-04-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92726-x
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850184036721360896
author Signe Holm Nielsen
Cecilie Møller Hausgaard
Meryem Benmarce
Morten Karsdal
Kim Henriksen
author_facet Signe Holm Nielsen
Cecilie Møller Hausgaard
Meryem Benmarce
Morten Karsdal
Kim Henriksen
author_sort Signe Holm Nielsen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition. One of the unmet medical needs in PD, are tools for better diagnosis, prognosis, and efficacy of treatment, which reflects the disease course of the individual patient. Alpha-Synuclein (α-Synuclein) is a hallmark of synucleinopathies such as PD, where α-Synuclein aggregates are deposited. Calpain-1 is an enzyme, located in the presynaptic terminal, and shown to be active as an early event related to aggregation of α-Synuclein. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a competitive ELISA, targeting a Calpain-1 specific cleavage site of α-Synuclein, named α-Syn-C, and evaluate it in serum from patients diagnosed with PD and comparing to healthy matched donors. A monoclonal antibody was raised against the α-Synuclein fragment generated by cleavage of Calpain-1 and employed in an ELISA assay. The assay was developed, technically evaluated, and quantified in two independent cohorts of patients diagnosed with PD and compared to the healthy donors. The discovery cohort showed α-Syn-C was significantly upregulated in patients with PD compared to healthy donors (p =0.0007), with a diagnostic value of AUC = 0.83. The evaluation cohort showed similar results with an ability to differentiate PD patients from healthy donors (p < 0.0001) with an AUC = 0.85. These findings are exploratory and hypothesis generating, indicating the α-Syn-C biomarker may be useful in managing PD patients, and needs to be validated in larger cohorts and longitudinal studies.
format Article
id doaj-art-a159f6acb6704cc1a8d9d3a8fd0941d0
institution OA Journals
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-a159f6acb6704cc1a8d9d3a8fd0941d02025-08-20T02:17:09ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-011511810.1038/s41598-025-92726-xA fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s diseaseSigne Holm Nielsen0Cecilie Møller Hausgaard1Meryem Benmarce2Morten Karsdal3Kim Henriksen4Nordic BioscienceNordic BioscienceNordic BioscienceNordic BioscienceNordic BioscienceAbstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition. One of the unmet medical needs in PD, are tools for better diagnosis, prognosis, and efficacy of treatment, which reflects the disease course of the individual patient. Alpha-Synuclein (α-Synuclein) is a hallmark of synucleinopathies such as PD, where α-Synuclein aggregates are deposited. Calpain-1 is an enzyme, located in the presynaptic terminal, and shown to be active as an early event related to aggregation of α-Synuclein. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a competitive ELISA, targeting a Calpain-1 specific cleavage site of α-Synuclein, named α-Syn-C, and evaluate it in serum from patients diagnosed with PD and comparing to healthy matched donors. A monoclonal antibody was raised against the α-Synuclein fragment generated by cleavage of Calpain-1 and employed in an ELISA assay. The assay was developed, technically evaluated, and quantified in two independent cohorts of patients diagnosed with PD and compared to the healthy donors. The discovery cohort showed α-Syn-C was significantly upregulated in patients with PD compared to healthy donors (p =0.0007), with a diagnostic value of AUC = 0.83. The evaluation cohort showed similar results with an ability to differentiate PD patients from healthy donors (p < 0.0001) with an AUC = 0.85. These findings are exploratory and hypothesis generating, indicating the α-Syn-C biomarker may be useful in managing PD patients, and needs to be validated in larger cohorts and longitudinal studies.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92726-xBiomarkerα-SynucleinCalpain-1ImmunoassayParkinson's Diseaseα-SYN-C
spellingShingle Signe Holm Nielsen
Cecilie Møller Hausgaard
Meryem Benmarce
Morten Karsdal
Kim Henriksen
A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
Scientific Reports
Biomarker
α-Synuclein
Calpain-1
Immunoassay
Parkinson's Disease
α-SYN-C
title A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
title_full A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
title_fullStr A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
title_full_unstemmed A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
title_short A fragment of Calpain-1 cleaved α-Synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with Parkinson’s disease
title_sort fragment of calpain 1 cleaved α synuclein quantified in serum is upregulated in patients with parkinson s disease
topic Biomarker
α-Synuclein
Calpain-1
Immunoassay
Parkinson's Disease
α-SYN-C
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92726-x
work_keys_str_mv AT signeholmnielsen afragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT ceciliemøllerhausgaard afragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT meryembenmarce afragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT mortenkarsdal afragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT kimhenriksen afragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT signeholmnielsen fragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT ceciliemøllerhausgaard fragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT meryembenmarce fragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT mortenkarsdal fragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease
AT kimhenriksen fragmentofcalpain1cleavedasynucleinquantifiedinserumisupregulatedinpatientswithparkinsonsdisease