A study of frozen blood samples reveals a protein that may predict some forms of dementia more than a decade before the disease is diagnosed, British and Chinese researchers reported Monday. were discovered in large quantities.
The study, published in the journal Nature Aging, is part of an ongoing study by multiple teams that uses a simple blood test to identify patients at risk of dementia, and many scientists believe this advance will I believe this will accelerate the development of new treatments.
Brain scans can now detect abnormal levels of a protein called beta-amyloid years before Alzheimer’s disease develops, but tests are expensive and often not covered by insurance.
“Based on this study, it seems likely that a blood test will be developed that can predict the risk of developing dementia over the next 10 years, but people at high risk may not know how to respond. A lot,” said Dr. Suzanne Schindler. He is an Alzheimer’s disease researcher at Washington University in St. Louis but was not involved in the study.
Study author Jian-Feng Feng of Fudan University in Shanghai said such tests are critical in an aging society like China, and is negotiating the possibility of commercially developing a blood test based on the research. said.
In the study, researchers from the University of Warwick and Fudan University looked at 52,645 blood samples collected from the UK Biobank Research Repository between 2006 and 2010 from people who had no signs of dementia at the time. did.
Of these, 1,417 ultimately developed Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, or dementia from any other cause. Researchers studied the protein signatures common to these people, identified 1,463 proteins associated with dementia, and ranked them according to their likelihood of predicting dementia.
Researchers found that people with higher levels of the proteins GFAP, NEFL, GDF15, and LTBP2 in their blood were consistently more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, or dementia of any cause. did. People with elevated GFAP levels were 2.32 times more likely to develop dementia, confirming the results of a small study pointing to the protein’s contribution.
The authors noted that their study has not been independently verified.
Neurofilament Light, one of the better proteins for predicting dementia, is already used in clinics to diagnose and monitor some conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Schindler said in an email. said.
“This study did not include a clinically available blood test for Alzheimer’s disease, which would likely be able to more accurately predict the onset of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease,” she said. said.
Such tests are already being used to identify candidates for clinical trials testing treatments for early-stage or pre-symptomatic patients, such as Eisai and Biogen’s Rekenbi. The drug recently won regulatory approval in the United States, Japan, and China.
