Will a blood test help detect Alzheimer’s disease? A breakthrough discovery

Alzheimer’s disease destroys the brain forever, and takes away memory and thinking ability. The beginnings often go unnoticed. Their detection enables brain imaging and examination of the cerebrospinal fluid – these are expensive methods and not always available to the patient. The situation may be changed by the discovery of the neurologist Dr. Randall J. Bateman and his colleagues. Their work has shown that the disease can be detected on the basis of blood tests. Get to know the details.

1. Alzheimer’s is an irreversible brain disease that gradually destroys neurons, memory, ability to think, and the ability to perform the simplest tasks
2. Alzheimer’s disease is related to the accumulation of a protein of some kind – amyloid, outside the brain cells. The affected area of ​​the brain works less and less and eventually disappears
3. There are two ways to confirm or rule out the presence of beta-amyloid in the brain. It’s a cerebrospinal fluid study and positron emission tomography. Both studies are accurate, but at the same time costly, invasive, and have limited availability
4. An alternative to them may be a blood test developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
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6. More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Irreversible Alzheimer’s disease of the brain

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive disease of the brain that gradually destroys neurons (the brain gradually shrinks) and thus memory, thinking abilities and, finally, the ability to perform the simplest of tasks. This can mean the sick person getting lost, trouble paying bills, problems recognizing friends and loved ones, changes in personality and behavior (e.g. loss of inhibitions, distrust). In the advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease, the patient is no longer able to perform normal daily activities – he cannot dress, eat, wash himself, he becomes completely dependent on others.

These problems are related to changes that take place in the brain, namely the accumulation of a certain type of protein outside the brain cells – amyloid (beta-amyloid). In healthy people, this compound is broken down, but not with alzheimer’s anymore, due to the aging processes taking place in the brain. – Amyloid then collects in certain regions of the brain, replacing nerve cells (neurons). This area works less and less and eventually fades away. The place where this compound is deposited determines the symptoms that will appear in a given patient – explained in an interview with Medonet neurologist Dr. Olga Milczarek from SCM Clinic in Krakow.

It turns out that too high homocysteine ​​levels may be related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Perform a Homocysteine ​​Shipping Test to take quick steps to preventive care.

Entire conversation: In Alzheimer’s disease, the brain shrinks and shrinks. Why? Explains the neurologist.

Further part below the video.

Checking for amyloid plaques in the brain is an important part of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. For example, in people who experience memory problems, controlling the presence of amyloid in the brain helps determine whether Alzheimer’s is a potential cause of the problem. There are two well-known ways to confirm or rule out the presence of beta-amyloid in the brain.

The first measures the amount of beta-amyloid in the cerebrospinal fluid (it is collected through a lumbar puncture, the so-called lumbar puncture). The second method allows you to create images of beta-amyloid in the brain through a PET (positron emission tomography) scan. Both studies are accurate, but at the same time costly, invasive, and have limited availability.

Against these limitations, a blood test developed at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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A study of patients from three continents. What have the scientists discovered?

The study involved nearly 500 patients from three continents: Europe (Sweden to be precise), the United States and Australia. In the studied groups there were people, incl. with cognitive impairment, significant memory problems, dementia, subjective cognitive decline, and no cognitive impairment.

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Researchers focused on two of the most problematic proteins: beta-amyloid 40 and beta-amyloid 42 (experts believe that they are the most responsible for the formation of amyloid deposits). The formation of beta-amyloid 42 and its removal from the CNS, i.e. from the brain to the bloodstream, has been observed.

It turned out that about 50 percent. it is cleared across the blood-brain barrier. This led to the discovery that by looking at the ratio of amyloid-beta 42 and amyloid-beta 40, one can determine whether there is amyloid plaque formation in the brain. Analyzes of the blood samples of these participants confirmed that their presence could be effectively predicted on this basis.

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The test became even more accurate when the researchers considered a gene variant associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (blood test accuracy was 88% compared to brain imaging and 93% compared to lumbar puncture). The study also showed that the blood test remains very accurate, even when performed in different laboratories with different protocols.

What does the scientists’ discovery mean for patients?

The work of scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provided evidence that the developed blood test should be considered in routine screening and diagnosis. “It provides a solid basis for detecting the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease, even in patients who are not yet experiencing cognitive decline,” says Randall J. Bateman. “As new drugs become available, a blood test will help determine who may benefit from using them, including those in the very early stages of their disease.”

Overall, the researchers estimate that replacing brain imaging and lumbar puncture testing with blood testing could drastically reduce costs, increase test availability, and even improve the recruitment of different groups of people to clinical trials.

However, work has its limitations. The main one was the small differentiation of the studied sample. It is therefore unclear whether the results will be relevant from a broader demographic perspective. However, researchers reserve that further research is ongoing to address these issues.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we are talking about the war in Ukraine and the drama of our eastern neighbors. We help as much as we can, but we ourselves are full of fears. Is it possible to get rid of them? How to help, but also how to take care of yourself? You will hear about this and many others below.

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