A simple blood test may be able to detect a "toxic" protein many years before a person starts to display symptoms of Alzheimer's.
Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a test that can spot the dangerous clumps of protein, called amyloid beta, long before symptoms such as memory loss show up.
At the moment, people tend to get diagnosed with Alzheimer's after they start to develop symptoms. But by that point, the best treatment option is only to slow down the progression of the disease, rather than prevent it.Scientists believe that the 'seeds' of Alzheimer's are planted years before any well-known signs of the illness start to happen.These amyloid beta proteins can clump together, forming something called oligomers, which are though to develop into Alzheimer's over time.In a new study, researchers at UW say that their new blood test could detect oligomers in the blood of patients with Alzheimer’s, but not in most members of a healthy trial group who showed no signs of cognitive impairment at the time the blood samples were taken.And the test was even able to detect the toxic proteins in the blood of 11 people from the non-Alzheimer’s group - all of which were later diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or brain pathology consistent with the disease.Essentially, for these 10 people, the test - known as SOBA - had detected the toxic oligomers before symptoms surfaced, the scientists say.Senior author Valerie Daggett, a UW professor of bioengineering and faculty member in the UW Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute, said: "We believe that SOBA could aid in identifying individuals at risk or incubating the disease, as well as serve as a readout of therapeutic efficacy to aid in development
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk
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