United States: The newly developed experimental blood test for Alzheimer’s disease serves as a diagnostic tool while providing insights into the severity of brain degeneration, according to research findings.
Breakthrough in Alzheimer’s Detection
The blood test monitors MTBR-tau243 protein levels, which scientists link to the brain’s toxic tau tangles that accumulate during Alzheimer’s disease progression, according to the journal Nature Medicine.
This research utilized the testing method to identify between early and late Alzheimer’s disease stages among those with cognitive decline, as reported in the study.
The research allowed scientists to identify Alzheimer’s disease patients distinctly from other patients exhibiting brain degeneration due to Alzheimer’s or other causes, according to research findings.
What more are the experts stating?
According to the co-senior author, Dr. Randall Bateman, a professor of neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,
“This blood test clearly identifies Alzheimer’s tau tangles, which is our best biomarker measure of Alzheimer’s symptoms and dementia,” US News reported.
“In clinical practice right now, we don’t have easy or accessible measures of Alzheimer’s tangles and dementia, and so a tangle blood test like this can provide a much better indication if the symptoms are due to Alzheimer’s and may also help doctors decide which treatments are best for their patients,” Bateman noted.
Two major marks of Alzheimer’s disease are toxic protein deposits of amyloid beta and tau that researchers identify in background notes.
Future Implications
Amyloid beta produces brain plaques, which form during the initial stage, and this process later progresses into tau tangles through years of development, according to researchers, as US News reported.
The brain starts to decline at the same time when tau tangles appear within the brain, and this decline intensifies because the tangles spread.
The clinical determination of Alzheimer’s progression depends on brain scans, which remain unavailable through major research centers because they are both expensive and require significant time to conduct.