Clinical and Imaging Characteristics of Parkinson's Disease with Negative Alpha-Synuclein Seed Amplification Assay

Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society
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Sarah M Brooker, Jacopo Pasquini, Seung Ho Choi, David-Erick Lafontant, Seyed-Mohammad Fereshtehnejad, Yashar Zeighami, Piergiorgio Grillo, Giulietta M Riboldi, Houman Azizi, Roqaie Moqadam, Un Jung Kang, Kelly N H Nudelman, Andrew Siderowf, Caroline M Tanner, Thomas F Tropea, Tatiana Foroud, Lana M Chahine, Brit Mollenhauer, Kalpana M Merchant, Douglas Galasko, Christopher S Coffey, Roseanne D Dobkin, Ethan G Brown, Roy N Alcalay, Daniel Weintraub, Kenneth Marek, Tanya Simuni, Paulina Gonzalez-Latapi, Nicola Pavese, Kathleen L Poston, Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative

Mov Disord. 2026 Jan 28. doi: 10.1002/mds.70197. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The cerebrospinal fluid alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay (CSFasynSAA) detects alpha-synuclein aggregation in over 90% of individuals with sporadic PD (sPD). However, the clinical characteristics of sPD with negative CSFasynSAA remain undefined.

OBJECTIVES: Describe clinical and neuroimaging characteristics of CSFasynSAA-negative sPD individuals in the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI).

METHODS: We identified sPD PPMI participants with a negative CSFasynSAA (SAA-, n = 80) or positive CSFasynSAA (SAA+, n = 856) result at baseline. For comparative analysis between groups, we used a reduced dataset (n = 79 SAA- and n = 237 SAA+) propensity-score matched on age, sex, and time since clinical diagnosis. Clinical parameters, dopamine transporter-single photon emission computed tomography (DAT-SPECT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain volumetrics were analyzed.

RESULTS: The SAA- and matched SAA+ groups had similar motor performance on the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-Part III (MDS-UPDRS-III) and similar cognitive performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at baseline. The proportion with severe hyposmia was 12% for SAA- versus 73% for SAA+ (P < 0.001). Per PPMI enrollment criteria all participants were classified as having an abnormal DAT-SPECT. There were no significant differences in median quantitative DAT-SPECT measures between groups. The SAA- group showed a higher degree of atrophy in subcortical brain regions including substantia nigra. Longitudinally, 14.3% of SAA- participants had a change in diagnosis versus 0.9% of SAA+ participants.

CONCLUSIONS: At baseline, SAA- sPD PPMI participants have a substantially lower rate of hyposmia, but otherwise cannot be readily distinguished from SAA+ participants based on clinical characteristics. However, SAA- participants have a greater degree of subcortical brain atrophy, and approximately one out of seven SAA- participants received a change in diagnosis. © 2026 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

PMID:41603617 | DOI:10.1002/mds.70197