Blood test may be able to predict Alzheimer's

A Japanese research group has developed a technology that might enable doctors to detect a sign of dementia by a blood test.

The group found that a protein capable of removing causative agents and protecting from toxicity can be a biomarker for the deterioration of cognitive function. With the biomarker, it succeeded in distinguishing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is believed to grow into dementia, from normal cognition function with an accuracy of 80%.

The group, which is led by Kazuhiko Uchida (an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tsukuba), developed the new technology in collaboration with MCBI (Molecular and Clinical Bioinformatics), a spin-off from the university.

A thesis about the new technology was published on Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, an academic journal published in the U.S. Its title is "Amyloid-β sequester proteins as blood-based biomarkers of cognitive decline."

With Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for most dementia cases, a substance called "amyloid-β peptide" begins to be accumulated in the brain about 20 years before the onset of the disease. After the stages called "preclinical period" (with no symptoms) and "MCI," dementia emerges.

For the treatment of dementia, early detection and intervention are believed to be important. And to realize intervention in the preclinical and MCI stages, it is necessary to develop a biomarker that indicates the deterioration of cognitive function.

The research proved that the variation of "sequester protein," which is a protein capable of removing amyloid-β peptide and protecting from toxicity, in blood can be a marker for the deterioration of cognitive function. The new technology is now ready to be used for medical checkups (normal blood tests), the research group said.

© Japan Today