Molecular biologists at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, were able to develop the first blood test with a very high capacity of more than 85% to detect signs of Alzheimer's disease, without the use of functional diagnostics and sampling of cerebrospinal fluid.
The University of Pittsburgh indicated that this discovery will simplify the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and reduce its cost.
According to Thomas Karikari, assistant professor at the same university, "currently diagnosing Alzheimer's disease requires the use of MRI systems and other forms of functional diagnostics, and all of these are expensive and time-consuming, which makes these techniques unavailable to many patients," he added. We have created a cheap and affordable alternative."
Karikari and his colleagues developed a new approach to identify the disease, with a very high probability of the presence of irregularly shaped tau protein molecules in blood samples, one of the two most important toxic molecules believed to contribute significantly to the development of dementia and other manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
Scientists have long believed that the damaged "tau" protein gradually accumulates in the nerve cells of carriers of the disease, and barely leaves them before these cells begin to die en masse, which is why biologists and doctors did not previously prepare it as a potential biomarker for detecting dementia in the early stages of its development.
Thus, scientists developed a new technique that distinguishes tau protein molecules from other forms of the substance that may be present in the bloodstream for reasons unrelated to Alzheimer's disease. This greatly increased the diagnostic value of this biomarker.
This led scientists to believe that it could be used to detect dementia in all its stages of development.
According to current estimates by the World Health Organization, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia affect nearly 50 million people worldwide today, and by 2030 that number could rise to 75 million, along with heart attacks and strokes.
These problems have long been one of the leading causes of death in first world countries.