Alzheimer’s disease: In a major breakthrough, researchers have developed a new blood-based test that can predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease up to 3.5 years before clinical diagnosis. Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. It impacts the ability to carry out the simplest tasks, and worsens learning and organising skills because it causes the brain cells to die.
The study by the researchers at King’s College London was published in the scientific journal Brain. The study supports the idea that components in human blood can modulate the formation of new brain cells called neurogenesis. It occurs in an important part of the brain called hippocampus.
Disease affects brain cell formation
While Alzheimer’s disease affects the formation of new brain cells in the hippocampus during the early stages of the disease, previous studies have been able to study neurogenesis only during autopsies.
The researchers collected blood samples over several years from 56 individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), in order to understand the early changes. MCI is a condition where a person begins to experience a worsening of their memory or cognitive ability, language, or judgement. It is the stage between the expected decline in memory and thinking that happens with age and the more serious decline of dementia. While dementia generally is used to describe a decline in mental ability, Alzheimer’s is a specific brain disease.
The new study was published in the journal Brain.
Link between MCI and Alzheimer’s
Not everyone experiencing MCI develops Alzheimer’s disease. However, those with MCI have much higher chances of developing Alzheimer’s than others, the study said.
The researchers made important discoveries while studying how blood affected the brain cells. In the blood samples collected from participants over the years who subsequently deteriorated and developed Alzheimer’s disease, a decrease in cell growth and division and an increase in apoptotic cell growth was observed.
Why is the study significant
The researchers analysed the blood samples and found that the changes in neurogenesis occurred 3.5 years prior to a clinical diagnosis.
Dr Edina Silajdžić, the joint first author on the paper, said the findings are extremely important, potentially allowing researchers to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s early in a non-invasive fashion. She said this could complement other blood-based biomarkers that reflect the classical signs of Alzheimer’s disease, such as the accumulation of amyloid and tau, which are the ‘flagship’ proteins of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to the researchers, the findings could present an opportunity to further understand the changes the brain goes through at the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
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