It’s true that there is no single test that can diagnose Pans or Pandas, nor a biomarker that definitively signals their presence. Brain changes associated with these conditions are also so subtle that they don’t show up to the naked eye on imaging tests, Frankovich says. “When the radiologist reads the MRI, they’re looking with their eyeballs and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is a normal brain’,” Frankovich says. “So these poor patients are getting dismissed.”
Alissa JohnsonResearchers continue to study Pans/Pandas, hoping to learn more about why they happen, what goes on in the bodies of patients who have these conditions, and whether there are biomarkers that could enable easier diagnosis and open the door to new treatments. One is Brent Harris, a neuropathologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC, US, who oversees the Pandas/Pans and Other Neuroimmune Disorders Brain Bank.
The brain bank fills an important research gap. Studying the brains of Pans/Pandas patients who have died allows for more granular analysis than doctors could perform when they were alive, he says. Through this work, Harris and his colleagues have found additional evidence of inflammation in the basal ganglia and other parts of the brain. Harris hopes such discoveries could eventually provide new targets for treatment.
Still, Harris stresses that far more research is required. His laboratory, for example, is working with only nine donated brains, and a much larger number would be needed to make generalisations about these diseases.
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