Mayo Clinic today announced that Mayo Medical Laboratories
has signed an agreement with A&G Pharmaceutical, Inc. and will receive a
non-exclusive license to certain patent rights and proprietary antibody
reagents for the detection and measurement of progranulin in blood. This
agreement will let Mayo Clinic offer the first commercial blood test to predict
progranulin mutation status in patients suspected to have frontotemporal
dementia (FTD).
The blood test will be available in late 2012 for all Mayo
Clinic patients and will be offered through Mayo Medical Laboratories to
hospitals and clinics worldwide.
FTD
accounts for at least 5 to 10 percent of dementia cases. It is common among
patients with early-onset dementia. FTD affects the brains frontal lobe, which
regulates behavior, movement, mood and language. Most FTD patients are
diagnosed when they show changes in personality, loss of memory and ability to
use language.
In 2006, researchers at Mayo Clinic published research in Nature
that found the mutation of the progranulin gene (PGRN) causes a reduction of
the protein progranulin in the brain. Along with other changes, this leads to
neuronal death and atrophy of the frontal lobes of the brain, ultimately
leading to dementia. Genetic testing is available to find the mutation, but it
is costly. In 2009, Mayo Clinic researcher Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D., and
colleagues discovered that FTD patients with PRGN mutations showed a reduction
in blood progranulin levels compared to controls and FTD patients without PRGN
mutations. Based on these findings and using A&Gs proprietary antibody
reagents, Mayo researchers developed an easy-to-use, cost-effective blood test
for measuring the level of progranulin.
“The progranulin blood test provides an inexpensive tool to
identify progranulin mutation carriers in patients with early-onset dementia or
asymptomatic relatives of FTD patients,” says Alicia
Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D., assistant professor of Laboratory Medicine and
Pathology at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Ginette Serrero, CEO of A&G Pharmaceutical, states,
“A&G has pioneered and patented research investigating expression of
progranulin in breast cancer and lung cancer. Research has shown that breast
cancer patients have an elevated level of progranulin when compared to healthy
individuals. We are delighted that our clinical studies with breast cancer
patients and development of progranulin antibodies and assays also will help
FTD patients.”
About Progranulin
Progranulin, an 88 kDa cysteine-rich glycoprotein growth and survival factor,
is also called GP88, PC cell-derived growth factor (PCDGF), Granulin Precursor,
Granulin-Epithelin Precursor (GEP), Epithelin Precursor, Proepithelin (PEPI) or
Acrogranin.
