Research published this week revealed that a blood test may be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
Alzheimer’s is a condition that causes cognitive gradual decline. Although it accounts for 60% to 80% of dementia cases, the disease is not a normal part of aging. Diagnoses of Alzheimer’s includes assessment of cognitive and behavioral symptoms, lab tests, brain imaging tests and more, per the Mayo Clinic.
According to the study published Monday in the JAMA Neurology journal, “the p-tau217 immunoassay showed similar accuracies to cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in identifying abnormal amyloid β (Aβ) and tau pathologies.”
Let’s break down what that means. First, p-tau217 is a protein that acts as a blood biomarker for Alzheimer’s and an immunoassay is a test. As for that second part, amyloid is a type of plaque and tau is a type of tangle – both are found in the brain and are linked to Alzheimer’s. Additionally, the study said the immunoassay method had comparable accuracy to a spinal tap, the type of test needed to obtain cerebrospinal fluid.
“A robust and accurate blood-based biomarker would enable a more comprehensive assessment of cognitive impairment in settings where advanced testing is limited,” said the study.
More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and the number is growing, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Nearly 11% of people over age 65 have the disease.
Researchers are working on new ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s dementia earlier, said the Mayo Clinic. They hope some of these future tests may be able to diagnose the disease when symptoms are very mild or even before symptoms start.
“Expanding access to this highly accurate AD biomarker is crucial for wider evaluation and implementation of AD blood tests,” said authors of the study released this week. These researchers examined data from three single-center observational cohorts, including data about participants with and without cognitive impairment grouped by amyloid and tau (AT) status using PET or CSF biomarkers.
Although there is no cure yet for Alzheimer’s, two treatments have recently become available. They are aducanumab (Aduhelm) and lecanemab (Leqembi).