IEC 2025 | The relationship between plasma ptau217 and cognitive decline in patients with late-onset epilepsy

So when it comes to late-onset epilepsy and specifically late-onset unexplained epilepsy, we’ve realized over time that there is probably a proportion of patients we’re seeing in clinic who are presenting with their first lifetime seizure, where that seizure might be the symptom of an underlying neurodegenerative disease. And we’re still not sure what percentage of patients we’re seeing actually have the underlying neurodegenerative disease, but we’ve realized more and more that seizures can be a presenting symptom of diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, or in some cases, other types of neurodegenerative diseases. And so there’s been interest in trying to use biomarkers to better understand the underlying pathophysiology of that unexplained seizure. And this is where plasma P-tau-217 comes in. The reason why it’s so appealing is that it’s a blood test. And more recently, it’s been found to be a very robust biomarker in the Alzheimer’s field. So the presence of elevated plasma P-tau-217 has been linked to both a positive amyloid PET and positive tau PET. And so now in the Alzheimer’s field, it’s being viewed as a good screening tool, whereby if there is a concern that someone with memory difficulties could have Alzheimer’s disease, one of the first tests to consider would be plasma P-tau-217. Now, when it comes to epilepsy, the role of plasma P-tau hasn’t been explored as much, which is where our study comes in. So we’ve been prospectively recruiting patients with unexplained seizures after the age of 55, and we’ve been performing cognitive testing. And part of their assessment was a blood test, and we looked at their plasma P-tau-217 levels. And at least in our study, we’re finding a very nice correlation of higher plasma P-tau correlating with both memory scores and global cognitive functioning. So we think just like in the Alzheimer’s disease world, in the epilepsy world, plasma P-tau-217 might play a role and can be incorporated in the clinic. We’re still unsure when that test should be done in an epilepsy clinic; that’s going to be a matter of debate, but certainly, if someone comes to an epilepsy clinic with cognitive complaints that are unexplained and Alzheimer’s disease is a possibility, plasma P-tau-217 might play a role.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.