CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT04918251Updated Jun 8, 2021

EEG and TMS-based Biomarkers of ALS, MS and FTD

An observational study in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Frontotemporal Dementia and Multiple Sclerosis, sponsored by University of Dublin, Trinity College. Status unknown at 1 site in Ireland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-06-08.

Sponsored by University of Dublin, Trinity College · Observational

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jun 2021), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
400
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

The purpose of this observational study is to improve understanding of the biology of why ALS, MS and FTD have different effects on different people and facilitate better measurement of the disease in future drug testing. To do this, brain and spinal cord neural network functionality will be measured over time, in addition to profiling of movement and non-movement symptoms, in large groups of patients, as well as in a population-based sample of the healthy population. Patterns of dysfunction which relate to patients' diagnosis and coinciding and future symptoms which align with categories of patients with similar prognoses will be investigated and their ability to predict incident patients' symptoms in future will be measured.

Read the detailed description

The aim of this project is to characterize spatiotemporal patterns of central nervous system dysfunction that correlate with clinical features of ALS, MS and FTD, to provide non-invasive electrophysiological measurements that can be used in a clinical setting to inform stratification of patients in clinical trials, and to provide data driven diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and objective clinical trial outcome measures. Such dysfunction will be investigated by recording single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-associated electromyography (EMG) during rest and by recording electroencephalography (EEG) during rest and during cognitive-motor tasks.

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Conditions studied

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
  • Frontotemporal Dementia
  • Multiple Sclerosis

Keywords

  • EEG
  • TMS
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Network
  • Electrophysiology
  • Biomarkers
  • Cognitive
  • Behavioural
  • Motor
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In context

Multiple Sclerosis

3,460 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Sclerosis; 661 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 400 is above the median of 100 across 1,016 observational studies indexed under Multiple Sclerosis.

Browse Multiple Sclerosis studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Dublin, Trinity College is the lead sponsor of 72 studies on the registry; 14 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Healthy controls and patients diagnosed with ALS, FTD or MS

Inclusion criteria

  • Age >18 years and able to give informed written or verbal (in the presence of two witnesses) consent.
  • In the case of non-control subjects, a clinical diagnosis of:

    (i) Probable frontotemporal dementia (FTD) including behavioural variant FTD, semantic dementia or primary progressive aphasia) with supportive brain imaging or known FTD causing genetic mutation (ii) Multiple sclerosis (MS) according to the McDonald criteria (Polman et al., 2011) or (iii) Possible, probable or definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) according to the El Escorial Criteria Revised (Brooks et al. 2000)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria:

  • Any diagnosed neurological/muscular disease other than ALS, MS or FTD
  • Use of neuro- or myo-modulatory medications except riluzole
  • Inability to participate due to disease-related motor symptoms (e.g. inability to sit for the required time or click the mouse to respond)
  • Upper body metallic implants
  • History of seizure disorders in the participant or immediate family members
  • Anxiety-induced fainting
  • Regular migraine
  • Evidence of significant respiratory insufficiency
  • Sleep time >2 hours below normal and/or alcohol consumption the night before data collection (in which case, recording session will be rescheduled).
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Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
400 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Controls

    Individuals from the Irish population with no psychiatric, psychological, neurological or muscular disease diagnosis

    Procedure: 128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG) · Procedure: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

    Procedure: 128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG) · Procedure: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

  • Multiple sclerosis patients

    Procedure: 128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG) · Procedure: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

  • Frontotemporal dementia patients

    Procedure: 128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG) · Procedure: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Interventions

  • Procedure128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG)

    128 electrode EEG will be non-invasively recorded from electrodes placed in a montage over the scalp while the participant is resting or performing tasks designed to engage specific cortical motor networks of interest (cognitive, behavioural, motor and sensory)

  • ProcedureTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

    Single and paired pulse TMS protocol will be delivered while surface bipolar EMG is recorded over hand muscles to interrogate corticospinal tract function and cortical motor network component functions

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Diagnosis-related difference in EEG or TMS measurements

    Differences in single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics between those within each patient cohort and controls

    Time frame: Baseline recording

  2. Prognosis-related EEG or TMS measurements

    Patient cohort single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics which show significant correlation to cognitive, behavioural, motor and/or sensory task performance, to disease duration or to survival time

    Time frame: Baseline recording

  3. Diagnosis-related changes in EEG or TMS measurements

    Differences in rate of change (slope) across time of single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics between those within each patient cohort relative to controls

    Time frame: Baseline to final visit assessed up to 2 years after baseline

  4. Prognosis-related changes in EEG or TMS measurements

    Rates of change (slope) across time of patient cohort single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics which show significant correlation to cognitive, behavioural, motor and/or sensory task performance, to disease duration or to survival time

    Time frame: Baseline to final visit assessed up to 2 years after baseline

Secondary outcomes

  1. Diagnosis-specific changes in EEG or TMS measurements

    Differences in rate of change (slope) across time of single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics between patient cohorts

    Time frame: Baseline to final visit assessed up to 2 years after baseline

  2. Diagnosis-specific difference in EEG or TMS measurements

    Differences in single or paired pulse TMS measures or time and/or frequency domain EEG characteristics between patient cohorts

    Time frame: Baseline recording

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Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
    Dublin, Leinster Dublin 2, Ireland
    • Orla Hardiman, BSc MB BCh BAO MD FRCPI FAAN · Contact · hardimao@tcd.ie · 018964497
    • Roisin McMackin, BA PhD · Contact · mcmackr@tcd.ie · 0894888697
    Recruiting
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References and documents

Publications

  • McMackin R, Dukic S, Broderick M, Iyer PM, Pinto-Grau M, Mohr K, Chipika R, Coffey A, Buxo T, Schuster C, Gavin B, Heverin M, Bede P, Pender N, Lalor EC, Muthuraman M, Hardiman O, Nasseroleslami B. Dysfunction of attention switching networks in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neuroimage Clin. 2019;22:101707. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101707. Epub 2019 Feb 2. PubMed 30735860 ↗
  • Dukic S, McMackin R, Buxo T, Fasano A, Chipika R, Pinto-Grau M, Costello E, Schuster C, Hammond M, Heverin M, Coffey A, Broderick M, Iyer PM, Mohr K, Gavin B, Pender N, Bede P, Muthuraman M, Lalor EC, Hardiman O, Nasseroleslami B. Patterned functional network disruption in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hum Brain Mapp. 2019 Nov 1;40(16):4827-4842. doi: 10.1002/hbm.24740. Epub 2019 Jul 26. PubMed 31348605 ↗
  • McMackin R, Dukic S, Costello E, Pinto-Grau M, Fasano A, Buxo T, Heverin M, Reilly R, Muthuraman M, Pender N, Hardiman O, Nasseroleslami B. Localization of Brain Networks Engaged by the Sustained Attention to Response Task Provides Quantitative Markers of Executive Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Cereb Cortex. 2020 Jul 30;30(9):4834-4846. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa076. Erratum In: Cereb Cortex. 2020 Jun 30;30(8):4727. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa152. PubMed 32318719 ↗
  • McMackin R, Dukic S, Costello E, Pinto-Grau M, Keenan O, Fasano A, Buxo T, Heverin M, Reilly R, Pender N, Hardiman O, Nasseroleslami B. Sustained attention to response task-related beta oscillations relate to performance and provide a functional biomarker in ALS. J Neural Eng. 2021 Feb 25;18(2). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/abd829. PubMed 33395671 ↗
  • Iyer PM, Mohr K, Broderick M, Gavin B, Burke T, Bede P, Pinto-Grau M, Pender NP, McLaughlin R, Vajda A, Heverin M, Lalor EC, Hardiman O, Nasseroleslami B. Mismatch Negativity as an Indicator of Cognitive Sub-Domain Dysfunction in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Front Neurol. 2017 Aug 15;8:395. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00395. eCollection 2017. PubMed 28861032 ↗
  • Nasseroleslami B, Dukic S, Broderick M, Mohr K, Schuster C, Gavin B, McLaughlin R, Heverin M, Vajda A, Iyer PM, Pender N, Bede P, Lalor EC, Hardiman O. Characteristic Increases in EEG Connectivity Correlate With Changes of Structural MRI in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Cereb Cortex. 2019 Jan 1;29(1):27-41. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx301. PubMed 29136131 ↗
  • Iyer PM, Egan C, Pinto-Grau M, Burke T, Elamin M, Nasseroleslami B, Pender N, Lalor EC, Hardiman O. Functional Connectivity Changes in Resting-State EEG as Potential Biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. PLoS One. 2015 Jun 19;10(6):e0128682. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128682. eCollection 2015. PubMed 26091258 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Raw data from this study may be made available in anonymized form upon request from qualified investigators subject to the approval by the Data Protection Office (DPO) and Office of Corporate Partnership and Knowledge Exchanges (OCPKE) in Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 8, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04918251
Lead sponsor
University of Dublin, Trinity College
Collaborators
Motor Neurone Disease Association, UK, Irish Research Council, IE, Health Research Board, IE, Research Motor Neurone, IE, Thierry Latran Foundation, FR, ALS Association, USA
Responsible party
Orla Hardiman (Professor of Neurology, University of Dublin, Trinity College) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 8, 2021
Start date
Sep 2012
Primary completion
Feb 2023 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 2023 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 8, 2021

Study contacts

Orla Hardiman, BSc MB BCh BAO MD FRCPI FAAN
Contact
hardimao@tcd.ie
+353 1 896 4497
Roisin McMackin, BA PhD
Contact
mcmackr@tcd.ie
01 896 4497
Orla Hardiman, BSc MB BCh BAO MD FRCPI FAAN
principal investigator · Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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