One Step Closer To A Blood Test For Alzheimer’s

Scientists have discovered blood markers that could be used for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

AsianScientist (May 6, 2013) – A team of Australian scientists have discovered components in the blood that could be used to develop a screening test for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia.

Publishing in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, the researchers identified seven blood-based biological markers that are associated with the build up of amyloid beta, a toxic protein in the brain, which occurs years before symptoms appear and irreversible brain damage has occurred.

“Early detection is critical, giving those at risk a much better chance of receiving treatment earlier, before it’s too late to do much about it,” said the team leader, Dr. Samantha Burnham from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency.

The study involved 273 volunteer patients over the age of 65, some of whom were Alzheimer’s sufferers while the others were not. The researchers performed brain scans, neuropsychological tests and analyzed blood samples and medical histories from the participants to identify the seven blood markers.

This research is part of the Australian Imaging and Biomarkers Lifestyle Study of Aging (AIBL), a longitudinal study in conjunction with research partners from Austin Health, Edith Cowan University, the Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health and the National Aging Research Institute. The AIBL study aims to discover biomarkers, cognitive characteristics and health and lifestyle factors that are linked with the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Another recent study from the AIBL team showed that amyloid beta levels become abnormal about 17 years before dementia symptoms appear,” said Dr Burnham. “This gives us a much longer time to intervene to try to slow disease progression if we are able to detect cases early. We hope our continued research will lead to the development of a low cost, minimally invasive population based screening test for Alzheimer’s in the next five to ten years. A blood test would be the ideal first stage to help identify many more people at risk before a diagnosis is confirmed more specialised testing.”

The article can be found at: Burnham SC et al. (2013) A blood-based predictor for neocortical Aβ burden in Alzheimer’s disease: results from the AIBL study.

——

Source: CSIRO; Photo: CSIRO.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

David Tan is a post-doctoral researcher at the A*STAR Institute of Medical Biology, Singapore. David received a PhD in stem cell biology from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Related Stories from Asian Scientist