Study suggests blood-based test could detect Alzheimer’s disease early

Research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London has established a blood-based test that could predict risk of the condition three and a half years before it is diagnosed.  The study supports the idea that components in the blood can influence the formation of brain cells.

Study joint author Dr Edina Silajdzic, said “Our findings are extremely important, potentially allowing us to predict onset of Alzheimer’s early.”

While the disease affects the formation of new brain cells in the hippocampus during the early stages, research so far has only been able to study neurogenesis in its later stages through post-mortem examinations.

In order to understand the early changes researchers collected blood samples from 56 people over a number of years with mild cognitive impairment, a condition where someone will begin to experience a worsening of their cognitive ability or memory.  While not everyone with the condition will develop Alzheimer’s disease, they do go on to progress to a diagnosis at a much higher rate than the wider population.

Professor Sandrine Thuret, lead author of the study, said “Previous studies have shown that blood from young mice can have a rejuvenating effect on the cognition of older mice by improving hippocampal neurogenesis.

“This gave us the idea of modelling the process of neurogenesis in a dish using human brain cells and human blood.

“In our study, we aimed to use this model to understand the process of neurogenesis and to use changes in this process to predict Alzheimer’s disease and found the first evidence in humans that the body’s circulatory system can have an effect on the brain’s ability to form new cells.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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