As of: February 22, 2024, 4:07 p.m
By: Lennart Schwenck
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A new study offers hope for the detection and prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
Early detection with the help of blood tests.
Shanghai - New hope in the fight against dementia and Alzheimer's.
In a study, researchers from China have developed a blood test screening that can apparently detect the diseases 15 years before the first symptoms appear.
They identified four proteins that predicted the onset of dementia in general, as well as Alzheimer's and vascular dementia specifically in older age, according to the study published in
Nature Aging
.
Combined with more conventional risk factors such as age, gender, education and genetic susceptibility, the protein profiles allowed researchers to predict dementia with an estimated accuracy of about 90 percent nearly 15 years before people received clinical confirmation of the disease.
Will dementia and Alzheimer's soon be a thing of the past?
A new blood test procedure gives hope © Imago
Alzheimer's and dementia: According to the WHO, diseases are increasing worldwide
According to
the World Health Organization (WHO),
more than 55 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, a number that is expected to rise to 78 million by 2030.
About 70 percent of all dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer's disease, with vascular dementia, caused by damage to blood vessels, accounting for 20 percent of cases.
“We hope to develop this as a screening kit that can be used in the NHS,” explained Prof. Jianfeng Feng, who teaches at the University of Warwick and Fudan University operates in Shanghai, the
Financial Times
.
Early confirmation of the disease is crucial for patients to benefit from two new Alzheimer's drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, which are currently under review for approval.
According to reports from the Alzheimer's Research Initiative,
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
already approved lecanemab and is expected to make a decision on donanemab soon.
European regulators are still reviewing both drugs.
Dementia is widespread in Germany
At the end of 2021, according to the German Alzheimer Society
, Germany recorded
almost 1.8 million people suffering from dementia, with Alzheimer's being the leading cause.
In the same year, around 440,000 people aged 65 and older developed dementia.
Due to demographic change, the number of those affected is expected to continue to rise.
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Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab already approved in the USA
To receive lecanemab or donanemab, patients would need to detect Alzheimer's disease early and have a lumbar puncture or PET scan to confirm the presence of the amyloid protein in the brain.
Toxic clumps of amyloid are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.
But the charity
Alzheimer's Research UK
estimates that only two percent of eligible patients receive such tests.
Work is underway to develop and implement simple blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer's, but challenges remain even with rapid diagnosis.
Patients must receive the new drugs0 every two weeks by infusion and because of the potentially fatal side effects, they will need regular MRI scans to check for brain swelling or bleeding.
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For the latest study, blood samples from 52,645 British adults without dementia were collected between 2006 and 2010, frozen and analyzed ten to 15 years later.
More than 1,400 participants developed dementia.
The researchers used machine learning techniques to look for links between nearly 1,500 blood proteins and the development of dementia in the following years.
In
Nature Aging
, they describe how four proteins, Gfap, Nefl, Gdf15 and Ltbp2, were present in unusual amounts in those who developed general dementia, Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia.
Higher protein levels were warning signs of the disease.
Inflammation in the brain can cause cells called astrocytes to overproduce Gfap, a known biomarker for Alzheimer's.
People with elevated Gfap were more than twice as likely to have dementia as those with lower levels.
Blood test procedures are not yet ready for series production due to high costs
Another blood protein, Nefl, is linked to nerve fiber damage, while higher than normal Gdf15 can occur after damage to the brain's blood vessels.
Rising levels of Gfap and Ltbp2 were unique to dementia and not other brain diseases, the scientists found, with changes occurring at least ten years before dementia diagnosis.
The researchers worked with companies to develop the test.
But the costs, which are currently several hundred euros, would have to be reduced to make the test profitable.
Dr.
Sheona Scales, research director at
Alzheimer's Research UK
, said: "This new study adds to the body of evidence that testing certain proteins in the blood of healthy people can accurately predict dementia before symptoms appear."
Blood test screening for dementia prevention not yet officially approved
Further studies are needed to understand how well such tests work in more diverse populations.
Scales added: "While tests in studies like this show promise, they still need to undergo regulatory approval before they can be used in a healthcare setting."
“Blood tests are showing great success, but none have been validated for use in the UK to date.
Working with the Alzheimer's Society, NIHR and with generous funding from People's Postcode Lottery players, we are funding research to provide the evidence the NHS would need to move forward with blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer's disease." (
ls
)