Emerging Biosensing Technologies for Neuroinflammatory and Neurodegenerative Disease Diagnostics

Abstract

Neuroinflammation plays a critical role in the onset and progression of many neurological disorders, including Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. In these clinical conditions the underlying neuroinflammatory processes are significantly heterogeneous. Nevertheless, a common link is the chronic activation of innate immune responses and imbalanced secretion of pro and anti-inflammatory mediators. In light of this, the discovery of robust biomarkers is crucial for screening, early diagnosis, and monitoring of neurological diseases. However, the difficulty to investigate biochemical processes directly in the central nervous system (CNS) is challenging. In recent years, biomarkers of CNS inflammatory responses have been identified in different body fluids, such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and tears. In addition, progress in micro and nanotechnology has enabled the development of biosensing platforms capable of detecting in real-time, multiple biomarkers in clinically relevant samples. Biosensing technologies are approaching maturity where they will become deployed in community settings, at which point screening programs and personalized medicine will become a reality. In this multidisciplinary review, our goal is to highlight both clinical and recent technological advances toward the development of multiplex-based solutions for effective neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease diagnostics and monitoring.

MicroRNAs in Neuroinflammation: Implications in Disease Pathogenesis, Biomarker Discovery and Therapeutic Applications

“…These neurological disorders all feature pathogenic neuroinflammation and thus often exhibit similar and overlapping symptoms, which complicates diagnosis of a specific neurodegenerative disorder. For example, differential diagnosis of MS, AD and PD relies on a combination of careful clinical assessment, brain imaging techniques and detection of disease specific biomarkers such as misfolded proteins or inflammatory cytokines [189]. Identification of the cause of a viral encephalitis such as JEV or HSVE often relies on antibody or PCR based tests, or CSF blood cultures to detect the infectious agent, although this diagnosis is usually delayed several days which impedes the impact of potential treatments [190].…”

State of the Art and Future Challenges in Multiple Sclerosis Research and Medical Management: An Insight into the 5th International Porto Congress of Multiple Sclerosis

“…anything from nucleic acids to entire cells) and a transducing module that translates the recognition reaction into a measurable signal. Ideally, a biosensor should be highly specific and sensitive, have minimal requirements in terms of sample volume and technical expertise and be efficient in terms of detection limits and time [122]. In the context of neuroimmunology, and particularly in the case of MS, there is a high demand for new diagnostic methods: the conventional platforms are usually ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay)-based, restricted to central laboratories (as they require technical expertise), time-consuming (around 24 h from sampling to output reading) and costly.…”

The acute phase response protein SERPINA3 is increased in tear fluid from the unaffected eyes of patients with unilateral acute anterior uveitis

“…While most studies have focused on ocular surface biomarkers in dry eye or ocular allergic diseases [ 11 , 26 ], biomarkers have also been proposed for intraocular diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy [ 17 , 29 ]. In addition, biomarkers have been described for extra-ocular conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease [ 3 ], thereby extending the potential usefulness of tear fluid biomarkers. There are relatively few studies on tear fluid biomarkers in uveitis [ 4 , 7 , 19 , 22 ], but novel biomarkers were recently suggested for Behcet’s disease and acute, non-infectious uveitis [ 18 , 25 ].…”