Introducing the Tyscore Assay
The Tyscore Assay, developed by Dr Tom Gilhooly at The Essential Health Clinic in Glasgow, is a blood test which can detect disease activity in a number of chronic conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
The Tyscore Assay measures the level of a chemical called nitrotyrosine which is a biomarker for peroxynitrite activity. Peroxynitrites are thought to be the molecules which damage the cell membranes of the myelin sheath and nerve cells. This was first proposed by Nobel Prize winner Louis Ignarro and different research groups around the world have confirmed this hypothesis by measuring nitric oxide by-products, including nitrotyrosine, in cerebro-spinal fluid.
The vast majority of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (75%) have one of the progressive forms of the disease which advances slowly and this group of patients are not usually offered active treatment due to the lack of clarity as to when their disease is active.
The Tyscore Assay is the first blood assay to measure nitrotyrosine levels and could show when these patients are in an active phase of their disease, giving a low-cost, non-invasive way to monitor these patients, indicating when treatment may be of potential benefit.
Glasgow Health Solutions have carried out the Tyscore Assay on a series of 48 patients with MS and found significantly raised levels in 23% of these patients. Targeting treatment at these patients may help to reduce the progression of the disease and prevent worsening disability. Work is at an early stage of development and clinical trials are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
The Tyscore assay has huge potential significance worldwide, as 1.5 million adults with the progressive form of Multiple Sclerosis are generally not being offered treatment at present. MS patients are usually young adults who are in the most economically active time of their lives and half have to stop working due to their disability. The estimated cost of healthcare and lost economic earning for these patients is estimated at over £2 Billion in the UK alone (Scotland has the highest prevalence of MS in the world.), and twenty times that amount worldwide.
