In a novel study German researchers found that a protein in spinal fluid could be used to envisage the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Patients having high levels of the chemical known as soluble amyloid precursor protein beta were more prone to develop the disease.
The researchers anticipate that the test will differentiate routine memory lapses from those prone to progress to dementia. This would permit treatments be prescribed in the preliminary stages, when they are most likely to be effectual and give people more time to get ready for the future.
In a study researchers from the Technical University Munich took samples of the clear fluid which surrounds the brain and spinal cord from fifty-eight people having mild cognitive impairment, a memory-loss condition which can escort to Alzheimer’s. The patients were followed for three years and around a third developed the condition.
The patients who developed the ailment had on average twelve hundred nanograms/ml of the protein in the spinal fluid at the start of the study. Beta amyloid proteins have already been incriminated in Alzheimer’s itself, but not as an interpreter of the disease. The study was published in the journal Neurology.
Adding a protein known as tau made the test eighty percent precise in envisaging whether the memory lapses would progress to something more sinister. At present there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. If developed a treatment, it would need to be delivered early prior to any lasting harm was done.
According to lead author Dr Robert Perneczky, being capable to recognize who will develop Alzheimer’s disease very early in the process will be vital in the future. Once they have treatments that could prevent Alzheimer’s disease, it could begin to treat very early and hopefully prevent the loss of memory and thinking skills that occurs with this devastating disease.
The ability to diagnose Alzheimer’s early is a key goal for doctors and researchers and this small study provides a potential new lead to follow up, explained Rebecca Wood, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK.