Blood test detects Alzheimer's 16 years before symptoms begin
A
simple blood test could predict if a patient will develop Alzheimer's
disease up to 16 years before symptoms begin, a new study finds.
Previous research
has shown options for detecting Alzheimer's disease in its early
stages. A 2018 study examined the presence and levels of amyloid beta in
a person's brain by looking at people with varying levels of health,
including some with who were healthy, some who had mild cognitive
impairments and some who had Alzheimer's disease.
THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE
HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.
PS-
THOSE INTERESTED IN
RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/
FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG- https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com
By
measuring changes in the levels of a protein in the blood, called
neurofilament light chain (NfL), researchers believe any rise in levels
of the protein could be an early sign of the disease, according to the
study published recently.
NfL
is a "marker in the blood which gives an indication of nerve cell loss
in the brain," explained lead researcher, professor of
cell biology of neurological diseases. ''The more neurofilament you have in the
blood, the more brain damage you have," he said.
There is still no effective treatment for Alzheimer's, but the Prof. thinks the new
blood test will be "very important for clinical studies." He hopes the
test will allow researchers to monitor the effectiveness of new
treatments before people have started to experience symptoms, by
measuring how levels of the protein are affected.
"Alzheimer's disease starts at least a
decade, maybe even 20 years, before we have any symptoms," said the Prof.
There
is currently no test doctors can use to conclusively determine whether
someone will get Alzheimer's disease and there are a lot of unknowns
about its cause. One widely believed theory is that the disease is
driven by the production and deposition of beta-amyloid plaques between
neurons in the brain.
In the UK, there are 850,000
people living with dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common
type of this condition, according to the Alzheimer's Society in the UK.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as many
as 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease.
Of
the many changes in the brain which precede the disease's symptoms, one
change is also the accumulation of NfL in the blood before any symptoms
begin, said the Prof.
Researchers measured the rate of change in NfL using a blood test in 405 individuals
from across the world enrolled in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's
Network -- an international research effort focused on dominantly
inherited Alzheimer's disease, a rare form of the illness that
represents less than 1% of all cases of Alzheimer's, according to the researchers.
The
team measured NfL protein levels in the participants through blood
samples, brain imaging and cognitive tests on average every two and half
years over the last seven years. The study is ongoing.
The
patients carrying the gene mutations predisposing them to Alzheimer's
disease -- a group of 243 -- were found to have increasing levels of NfL
compared to the control group, consisting of 162 family members without
the mutation.
By measuring the protein, the Prof. said
"we can measure with our blood test the changes in the brain many, many
years before we have the symptoms." So far, 13 participants had
developed Alzheimer's.
Through the
cognitive testing and brain imaging, NfL levels were shown to be
correlated with cognitive decline and brain shrinkage, said the Prof.
Researchers also found an association between 39 participants' changing
NfL levels and brain loss and cognitive decline after two years.
The
findings come together to show that changes in NfL levels were an
accurate predictor of how brain damage develops, according to the study.
The Prof. likened his team's work to
the cancer field. "In general this is not something new," he explained,
as certain markers, for example, tell people they have cancer even when
there are no symptoms of the disease. The test is already commercially
available; it detects NfL in cerebrospinal fluid for measurement of
different neurological conditions, and the Prof. is confident that future
clinical trials for new Alzheimer's drugs will include the marker his
team developed.
But the Prof. warns
that the test is not specific to Alzheimer's disease, he added. Higher
levels of neurofilament indicate brain damage, but this can also be due
to brain injury from an accident, for example.
This is not the first blood test developed in hope of diagnosing the disease early.
In 2014, using a blood test
that looked at 10 specific lipids in people's blood, researchers were
also able to predict Alzheimer's before symptoms appeared.
A postdoctoral researcher said that the researchers "most promisingly" show changes of NfL
predicting cognitive test results and thinning of the cortex, "two main
symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease."
FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG- https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com
Labels: Alzheimer's, beta-amyloid proteins, between, blood tests, changes, earlier, levels of proteins in blood, measures, nerve cell loss, neurofilament light chain (NfL), neurons, predicts
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home