Clinical trails are underway that indicates a blood test can identify a person’s chance of developing brain amyloid, a protein that is a risk factor in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Reisa Sperling is the director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and tells KLIN News, “What we found is the blood test is a pretty good predictor of who is normal, they don’t have substantial impairments but we can tell with reasonable certainty if they have amyloid plaque build-up in the brain.” She adds this is a remarkable achievement that may lead to detecting and treating Alzheimer’s much earlier, and hopefully one day, preventing the memory loss associated with this devastating disease.”
Early data shows the blood test is 81% accurate in predicting the level of protein that is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s.
There is another clinical trial that will focus on treatment. Dr. Sperling says, “It is an antibody that helps clear the brain clear the amyloid. We are trying to figure out if we do that early enough, before people have substantial symptoms, can we really delay or prevent the dementia of Alzheimer’s disease.” She says that amyloid could have been building up for 10 or 15 years.
Up to 75 research centers in North America will use the blood tests to identify those most at risk. Dr. Sperling is hoping that at least one of the clinical trials will be in Nebraska.