This technique would simplify the detection of this neurodegenerative disease at an early stage, because a cerebral scintigraphy remains cumbersome and expensive.
The research on better detection of the diseaseAlzheimer progress. After detection of a specific biomarker in urinean international team has developed a new test to detect the signs of the most frequent maladies neurodegenerative diseases from markers present in a blood sample.
A simpler, less expensive technique
Certainly, currently, diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is already possible. But this requires resorting to an expensive brain scan, or a lumbar puncture in a specialized hospital department.
600 patients with a more or less advanced stage of the disease served as the basis for this study.
A test targeting antibodies
More specifically, the technique developed by neuroscience professor Thomas Karikari and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States makes it possible to detect a particular form of the Tau proteincalled brain-derived Tau, which is specific to Alzheimer’s disease.
The scientists were able to conclude that the levels recorded were consistent with those present in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and with the data collected on the brain tissue of people who died from the disease. And the test was able to reliably distinguish Alzheimer’s other neurodegenerative diseases.
A major breakthrough?
Thomas Karikari summed up the British daily Guardian the advantages of this test:
A blood test is cheaper, safer and easier to administer, and it can improve clinical confidence in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and the selection of participants in clinical trials and monitoring of the disease.
And now ? Clinical trials will continue to confirm the reliability of this new tool. Then will come the time for validation with a larger number of patients and people at different stages of the disease. Later, this discovery of brain-derived Tau proteins could help develop treatments for the neurodegenerative disease.