A blood test could produce an early warning of Alzheimer's disease

TUESDAY, Jan. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) – Leakage of blood vessels in the brain could be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease, researchers said.

They followed 161 older adults for five years and found that those with the most severe memory loss had the largest leaks in the blood vessels of their brains, and that the amyloid and tau proteins badociated with Alzheimer's are present.

The findings could help diagnose Alzheimer's earlier and suggest a new drug to slow down or prevent the disease, according to researchers at the University of Southern California.

"The fact that blood vessels leak, regardless of tau and amyloid, when people have cognitive impairment [mental] According to Dr. Berislav Zlokovic, lead author of the study, he is director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Los Angeles.

"It was surprising that this break in the blood-brain barrier occurs independently," Zlokovic added in a press release issued by the university.

The blood-brain barrier prevents harmful substances from reaching the brain tissue. In some people, this barrier weakens with age.

"If the blood-brain barrier does not work properly, damage may occur," said Arthur Toga, co-author of the study, director of the Institute of Neuroimaging and Computer Science Stevens to Keck.

"This suggests that the vessels are not providing the nutrients and blood flow that the neurons need, and you have the potential for toxic proteins to get inside," Toga said.

"The results really opened the eyes," said the study's first author, Daniel Nation, an badistant professor of psychology. "It does not matter that people are suffering from a pathology of amyloid or tau protein, they still have a cognitive impairment."

The results were published recently in the journal Nature Medicine.

The next step in this research is to determine how quickly mental decline occurs after injury to the cerebral blood vessels.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer 's disease is expected to almost triple to reach about 14 million by 2060.

More information

The US National Institute on Aging is more interested in Alzheimer's disease.