Blood test could detect Alzheimer’s disease more than 10 years sooner in some patients
- Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, the findings may give much earlier warning of the disease’s onset
Changes in levels of a protein in the blood could help shed light on damage in the brain more than a decade before symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease develop, researchers have revealed.
While there is no drug to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s, or cure it, the team say the study findings could be used by doctors to help anticipate when patients might start to show symptoms of the disease.
The researchers also say it shows that measuring changes in levels of this protein in the blood is a useful way to test whether new Alzheimer’s drugs show promise – something researchers have already begun to embrace.
“We know Alzheimer’s disease starts [in the brain] one or two decades before you have any symptoms,” said Professor Mathias Jucker, a co-author of the study from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Tübingen.
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“We also know any therapy has to interfere 10 years [before symptoms] or even earlier to be successful if you want to target the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.” The blood test, he said, would allow researchers to test whether drugs are having an effect.