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Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, such as memory loss, confusion, personality changes and restlessness, can manifest up to 10 years (or more) after the onset of the disease. But a new study has revealed a blood test that could predict whether a person will develop Alzheimer's disease until age 16 before the onset of symptoms.
The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine and focused on changes in the levels of a protein in the blood called neurofilament light chain (NfL). The protein shows how important the loss of nerve cells in your brain is – if you have more NfL in your blood, it means you have more brain damage.
The researchers studied 405 people registered with the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network, an international research program on a rare form of Alzheimer's disease caused by inherited genetic mutations. People with the gene mutation usually develop Alzheimer's disease before the age of 60 and have a 50% chance of pbading on the mutation to their children.
Of the 405 people participating in the study, 243 carry the gene mutation and 162 are family members who do not have this mutation. The researchers measured the evolution of their NfL levels, by means of blood samples, brain imaging and cognitive tests, approximately every two and a half years over a seven-year period ( the study is still in progress).
What they found, is that the evolution of NfL levels was correlated with cognitive decline and narrowing of the brain. In addition, the researchers noted specific changes in a smaller group of 39 patients with the mutation two years after their first participation in the study. They found that people whose NfL levels had increased rapidly before were more likely to show signs of cerebral atrophy and lower cognitive abilities.
Overall, NfL levels were higher in people with the mutation leading to Alzheimer's disease six years before the onset of symptoms. When researchers studied the evolution of NfL levels over time, they discovered that the rate of change in NfL levels allowed them to differentiate between mutation carriers and non-mutation carriers as early as 16 years of age. before the estimated appearance of the symptom.
There is currently no test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease and this NfL test has not yet been approved by the FDA to diagnose or predict brain damage. However, a very similar test is already used to test protein levels in the blood caused by other neurological conditions and other lesions.
Although the test is not (yet) specific to Alzheimer's – people with other types of brain damage will also have higher NfL levels – the researchers hope the test will be used in clinical trials, helping scientists to discover the effectiveness of new treatments for Alzheimer's.
"I could see that this would be used at the clinic in a few years to identify signs of brain injury in individual patients," said Brian Gordon, one of the authors of the study. "We are not up to the point of telling people," In five years, you will suffer from dementia. "We are all working in this direction."
Getty photo of Jovanmandic
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