New Alzheimer's blood test to revolutionize the early detection of the disease

New Alzheimer test method has a hit rate of 90 percent

For years, research in Alzheimer's disease has not provided any significant new insights or major breakthroughs. Recently, even the pharmaceutical company Pfizer stopped its research program against Alzheimer's due to lack of results. Now there is new hope. Japanese and Australian scientists have developed an early detection method for Alzheimer's, which was able to correctly diagnose Alzheimer's in the first tests in 90 percent of cases. Contrary to the usual methods, which provide only moderate results despite high financial expenditure, this test is also cheap and non-invasive.

It is a blood test that identifies people with high levels of Alzheimer's disease protein. If confirmed by further research, this long-awaited test could be a resounding success in the increasingly desperate search for treatments for Alzheimer's and dementia that could benefit millions of people worldwide. Also, a cost effective blood test could help pharmaceutical companies find potential Alzheimer's patients for studies testing new drugs. The study results were published in the renowned journal "Nature".

A new blood test for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease could drive Alzheimer's research and revolutionize treatment. (Image: goa novi / fotolia.com)

How does the new blood test work??

According to the researchers, the test identifies people whose brains have high levels of amyloid-β. This is a protein that plays a key role in Alzheimer's disease. It is suspected as a trigger of dementia and its presence is considered a symptom of the disease. The researchers hope that drug developers can use the test to identify people with dementia at an early stage and win for participation in clinical trials before irreversible damage to their brains. This could make future clinical trials more reliable and contribute to the development of appropriate drugs.

Researchers have been looking for a suitable test for 15 years

The research team of molecular biologist Katsuhiko Yanagisawa of the Center for Development of Advanced Medicine for Dementia in Japan developed the prototype for the biomarker test. "This study provides the best results I've seen so far," said neuroscientist Simon Lovestone, University of Oxford, UK, in a press release on the study's findings. Lovestone had already conducted other studies on the subject. Scientists around the world have been researching a simple blood test for dementia for the past 15 years.

Why is a simple blood test so important to Alzheimer's research??

Until now, there has been no reliable way to identify people with early stage dementia, so most clinical trials have recruited people for whom the clinical symptoms were already evident. "Brain damage associated with amyloid-β has already occurred at this point, and it may be too late to reverse it," explains Yanagisawa. The new test will allow a whole new approach in future studies.

Alzheimer's research astray

All previous drug candidates to stop Alzheimer's disease have failed in clinical trials. That's why many pharmaceutical companies have given up and discontinued the research field. Until now, costly and expensive methods were needed to identify amyloid-β in the brain. In addition, the procedures were very uncomfortable for the patients, since they required, for example, a withdrawal of the spinal fluid.

The future of Alzheimer's research

The researchers compared the results of the new blood test with measurements from more sophisticated methods such as brain imaging or spinal fluid analysis. The research results of 121 people from Japan and 252 people from Australia were included. The results were consistent. However, according to the authors, even larger and longer-term studies are needed to check how accurate the blood test is in identifying high levels of amyloid β in human brains. (Vb)