Monday 08 / July / 2024
Los Angeles: Researchers may soon be able to diagnose Alzheimer's disease with a simple bloodtest, according to findings presented at a global conference in Los Angeles.
At the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2019 held from July 14-18, scientists from a number of countries published new results on using blood tests as a tool to screen for possible signs of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
Currently, the brain changes that occur before Alzheimer’s dementia symptoms appear can only be reliably assessed by positron-emission tomography (PET) scans, and from measuring amyloid and tau proteins in spinal fluid. These methods are expensive and, in the case of a spinal tap, invasive. And, too often, they are unavailable, not covered by insurance or difficult to access.
There is a global “race” to uncover and develop new screening and diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease, such as a blood test.
“There is a great need for simple, reliable, inexpensive, non-invasive and easily available diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s,” said Maria C Carrillo, PhD, Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer. "Families facing Alzheimer's now and in the future would benefit greatly from simple and widely accessible diagnostic tools that enable accurate diagnosis, earlier in the disease process, allowing for important care and planning."
“These new testing technologies, which are currently under development by industry and academic researchers, could also potentially be used to track the impact of therapies in clinical trials,” Carrillo added.
In a study published in January 2018, Dr Akinori Nakamura of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Obu, Japan and his colleagues described a potential blood biomarker of amyloid-beta which they suggested might allow identification of people likely to develop Alzheimer’s dementia in the future. The technology measures plasma levels of amyloid-related peptides.
At AAIC 2019, Nakamura and his colleagues reported results of a study aimed at analysing the plasma biomarker in comparison to brain amyloid PET scans (reflecting Aβ deposition), structural MRI (reflecting brain atrophy), FDG-PET (reflecting glucose hypometabolism) and behavioral tests (MMSE/reflecting cognitive decline). They analysed 201 samples (70 cognitively normal, 46 MCI, 61 Alzheimer’s, and 24 non-Alzheimer’s dementia) from three different institutes in Japan.
“We found that the plasma biomarker can detect earlier stages of amyloid deposition, even before dementia symptoms are apparent,” Nakamura said. “Our results suggest that the plasma biomarker may be useful in screening people who are at risk for Alzheimer’s. This can facilitate clinical trials for Alzheimer’s therapies, and also accelerate studies to investigate the effects of non-drug interventions, risk management, and lifestyles on Alzheimer’s progression.”
In another experiment, Abdul Hye of King's College London looked at neurofilament light, a biomarker of nerve damage in blood and spinal fluid, and found "for the first time" that neurofilament light on its own is able to distinguish several neurodegenerative conditions when compared with healthy controls.
There is no treatment currently available to cure dementia or to alter its progressive course.
"There is a great need for simple, reliable, inexpensive, non-invasive and easily available diagnostic tools for Alzheimer's," Maria C Carrillo, chief science officer of Alzheimer's Association, said in the press release.
"Families facing Alzheimer's now and in the future would benefit greatly from simple and widely accessible diagnostic tools that enable accurate diagnosis, earlier in the disease process, allowing for important care and planning," she said.
