NCT05401773

α-synuclein Seeding Activity in the Olfactory Mucosa in COVID-19

α-synuclein Seeding Activity in the Olfactory Mucosa in COVID-19 - A Pilot Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (actual)
• Sponsor: Medical University Innsbruck · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Loss of the sense of smell is a characteristic feature of COVID-19 and likely related to viral invasion of the olfactory mucosa but is also a prodromal feature of PD. This constellation has kindled concerns that COVID-19 - similar to the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918 - might trigger a second wave of post-infectious parkinsonism. The main objective of the study is to probe for the presence of pathological α-synuclein assemblies in the olfactory mucosa of patients with COVID-19.

Detailed description

Deposits of misfolded proteins are the cause of frequent neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. In Parkinson's disease, the misfolded protein alpha-synuclein is found in the olfactory mucosa of the nose, which contains nerve cells responsible for smell perception, from which the misfolded alpha-synuclein spreads further into the brain. The mechanisms that lead to this misfolding and the resulting damage to the nervous system are still unclear. One hypothesis is that inflammatory processes such as viral infections trigger the misfolding of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease and can lead to its deposition. Based on this assumption and the striking involvement of the sense of smell in SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19), the aim of this study is to investigate the olfactory epithelium of the nasal mucosa of COVID-19 patients for possible alpha-synuclein deposits by using nasal swabs. We hypothesize that the invasion of olfactory neurons and subsequent inflammatory responses could trigger α-synuclein misfolding and aggregation. Therefore, we aim to investigate for the presence of α-synuclein seeding activity in the olfactory mucosa of subjects who have recovered from COVID-19 by using Real-time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC).

Conditions

• COVID-19

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Real-time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC)	RT-QuIC is increasingly used as diagnostic tools in synucleinopathies and has shown high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of α-synuclein seeds in CSF and tissue samples, including the olfactory mucosa in different patients' cohorts including Parkinson's patientients, patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and patients with dementia with Lewy bodies.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-08-11
• Primary completion: 2024-12-31
• Completion: 2024-12-31
• First posted: 2022-06-02
• Last updated: 2025-04-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Austria