A new device can detect Alzheimer’s disease in the blood up to 17 years before any symptoms start to show.
The device uses immune-infrared sensors that detects the protein biomarker amyloid-beta misfolding. Amyloid-beta plays a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer and has been postulated as a potential biomarker for the disease.
The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, analysed blood plasma from participants between the ages of 50 and 75 between 2000 and 2002.
Researchers compared 68 people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease to 240 who had not received such a diagnosis. The sensors identified the 68 individuals who developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Klaus Gerwert, founding director of the Centre for Protein Diagnostics at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, said: “Our goal is to determine the risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia at a later stage with a simple blood test even before the toxic plaques can form in the brain, in order to ensure that a therapy can be initiated in time.”
The finding of the research was backed by a comparative study that was conducted using complementary single-molecule array (SIMOA) technology, published in the same journal on March 2, 2022.
“Up to now, clinical trials for Alzheimer’s drugs have been failing by the dozen, apparently because the established plaque tests used in the trials don’t flag up the disease in time,” said Gerwert. “It seems that once plaques are deposited, they introduce irreversible damage in the brain.
“However, it is still controversially discussed whether this misfolding is the cause of Alzheimer’s disease or if it’s just an accompanying factor.
“For the therapeutic approach, this question is crucial, but it is irrelevant for the diagnosis. The misfolding indicates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.”
