Latest Alzheimer’s lab tests focus on memory loss, not brain plaques : Shots

When doctors suspect Alzheimer’s disease, they can request a blood test to see if the patient’s brain contains sticky amyloid plaques that are distinctive for the disease.

But the results of this test will not tell the entire story, he says Dr. Randal BatmanNeuroscientist at the University of Washington at St. Louis.

“People can get a head filled with amyloid, but there is no dementia or memory loss,” Batman says.

So he and a team of scholars have evolved New blood test This can explain whether Alzheimer’s disease has already begun to influence a person’s thinking and memory.

Join Another new testThis is one of the spinal fluid, which can expect whether the changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease are likely to affect the cognitive function.

“It is a strong indication of memory impairment,” he says. Tony Wes CoriNeuroscientist at Stanford University.

Both tests, described in the magazine Nature MedicineIt can help doctors to identify patients who are likely to benefit from medications that can disinfect the brain of amyloid paintings. Both were developed by funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Looking behind the amyloid

Blood test is the result of the search for vital indicators for Alzheimer’s disease better – measurable substances in the body indicate a disease.

Batman and his team were studying Tangak Tao, the abnormal blocks of protein that are in the neurons of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This tangle is a distinctive feature of the disease, along with amyloid plaques.

The team noted that one area of ​​Tau appears to play an important role in destroyed neurons and causes memory loss. They found a biological sign of this region called MTBR-TAU243.

Compared to the vital indicators of amyloid paintings, the MTBR-TAU243 was “more related to memory loss, the beginning of symptoms, the stage of dementia, and all the things that patients cared about,” says Batman.

Initially, the team had to use the backbone to measure the levels of new vital signs reliably. But in the end, they developed a test that could use blood samples.

The blood test refers to the abnormal amount of the patient in the patient’s brain, as Batman says, “It only rises when people are symptoms.”

When the test becomes commercially available, Batman says, it will give doctors a fast and easy way to see if the amyloid plaques sitting in the patient’s brain actually affect their memory and thinking.

It will also indicate whether Alzheimer’s disease has been advanced after the point where drug treatment is likely to help, he says.

“We can now make a more enlightened option about: How much use you can get if you undergo a treatment to remove amyloid plaques?” Batman says.

Scale

There is another new test, this test from the spinal fluid, comes from a team led by Work-Crayy of Stanford.

He says they started answering a simple question related to aging: “Can we find proteins that change if the person’s memory does not work well?”

The team studied more than 7000 proteins in the spinal fluid for more than 3000 people. Two potential vital indicators have appeared.

One protein levels have increased significantly in people with memory problems, while other levels decreased sharply.

“So we have done a percentage between the two, and it turns out that this percentage is a very good indication of whether the person’s memory is fine or not,” says Wes Cori.

The percentage to predict memory loss can also be used in people who have a genetic willingness to Alzheimer’s disease.

“In these individuals, [the ratio] “10 to 20 years rises before they get a diagnosis of actual disease,” said Wes Corrai, because this is when the first hidden signs appear to poor perception.

Both proteins in the test are involved in the regulation of clamps, and the links between neurons, he says Dr. Paul WorldProfessor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. So it is logical that the levels of these proteins change when Alzheimer’s disease begins to affect the function of the brain.

“The exciting thing here is that this process seems to expect the development of cognitive decline 10, 20, and 30 years,” says Worley. This means that it should be possible to start treatment a long time before Alzheimer’s symptoms start, he says.

Warley was part of a team Show How to lose a protein user in the test disables clamps and leads to memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. Its team also found that people could remain a perceived natural, despite the amyloid panels as long as their brains have natural levels of this protein.

The importance of nerve clamps in Alzheimer’s disease indicates that maintaining its function – perhaps by increasing the levels of this protein – can be one of the ways to treat or prevent the disease.

He says: “Basic biology supports this,” he says.