DECIPHERING THE COMPLEXITIES OF NEURODEGENERATION AND NEUROINFLAMMATION WITH NANOSTRING GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING

Neurodegenerative diseases represent a growing health concern and economic burden as the aging population increases and disease rates soar. Although early diagnosis and treatment have remained elusive, much progress has been made by applying molecular approaches, notably gene expression and proteomic profiling, to advance our understanding of disease at a mechanistic level. To address the growing need for biomarkers, gene expression signatures, and novel drug targets in neurological disease, NanoString has collaborated with leaders in the field to develop novel and powerful gene expression tools. These tools bring the robustness and simplicity of the nCounter® system along with its expertly curated and data-driven panel development approach to areas such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), neuropathic pain, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and infections of the CNS. The nCounter® Neuropathology and Neuroinflammation Gene Expression Panels were used to detect disease specific changes in gene expression within fresh frozen, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE), blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. Our results show robust performance regardless of sample type or post-mortem interval (PMI) and high concordance between fresh frozen and fixed samples. Marked changes in gene expression within key pathways were observed between normal and diseased patients, correlated with disease progression. Finally, our cell type profiling analysis enabled the measurement of changes in cell composition within specific regions of the CNS over various stages of disease. All data was generated in less than 24 hours from purified RNA to results using the nCounter Analysis System. NanoString's goal is to bring the advanced multiplexed molecular profiling tools that have accelerated the field of cancer drug development including pathway mapping, predictive biomarkers, biology subtyping, mixed-cell deconvolution and others to help lead transformational progress in the important field of neuroscience.