Blood Test Predict Alzheimer's

This is one disease which early detection has clear therapeutic value.  Alternatively the present protocol only kicks in when most of the damage is already done and any attempts to improve the outcome is very much an exercise of far too little far too late.  It is actually a remarkable demonstration of just how effective the brain is at establishing work arounds.

We know from other work that an active mind will work around problems into the last two years.  A chess master proved this.  The immediate take home is that any victim can go early into brain problem solving in order to maintain brain integrity.  That is surely a preferable outcome and the least that is now on offer.

As well we can work to rebalance the blood chemistry of a victim who has tested positive.  Chances are that we have effective ways already to control the disease but late detection has made it all meaningless.  I certainly know where to start at least with an optimistic prognosis.

Blood test that can predict Alzheimer's: Elderly could be given early warning

The simple blood test could give early warning within three years

The test could speed the search for new drugs that delay or prevent disease

Experts are pleased, but it could bring health concerns if no cure is found

By FIONA MACRAE SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

PUBLISHED: 19:40 GMT, 9 March 2014 | UPDATED: 09:43 GMT, 10 March 2014

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2576916/Blood-test-developed-predict-Alzheimers-disease-90-cent-accuracy.html#ixzz2vaECuB3t

A simple blood test has been developed that gives healthy elderly people precious early warning they may get Alzheimer’s within the next three years.

It is hoped the test, the first to predict accurately who will become ill, could speed the search for new drugs that can delay or even prevent the devastating brain disease.

It could eventually lead to widespread screening in middle-age to identify those most at risk and give them greater warning.

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Incurable: Alzheimer's disease causes brain atrophy (decrease in size), shown here by the enlarged ventricle cavities (white, at centre of brain) and the widened pale blue regions.

Experts called the breakthrough a real step forward, but warn it will bring with it ethical concerns, particularly if there is still no cure.

Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia affect some 800,000 Britons and the number is predicted to double in a generation as the population ages. 

David Cameron has described dementia as ‘the key health challenge of this generation’.

Existing medicines are of limited use and several promising pills and potions have failed to live up to hopes.

However, many believe this is because they are being tested too late in the disease – and may work if given in the very early stages.

The latest research, from Georgetown University in Washington DC, opens up the possibility of identifying those who will benefit from them the most. 

Even delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s would have a massive impact on the lives of sufferers and their loved ones.

Researcher Howard Federoff took blood samples from hundreds of healthy men and women aged 70-plus. During the next five years, some developed Alzheimer’s. Their blood samples were then compared with the samples taken from the people who remained free of the disease.

This flagged up a battery of ten fats that were present in lower amounts in the blood of those who went on to develop memory problems – despite them appearing healthy at the time they gave blood. Dr Federoff then confirmed the finding on a second group.

Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, he said the test can give two to three years’ warning of Alzheimer’s with 90 per cent accuracy. He said it is the first blood test to accurately forecast if an apparently healthy person will succumb to Alzheimer’s. It is also quicker, cheaper and less invasive than other methods such as expensive scans and painful lumbar punctures.

It isn’t entirely clear how the test works but changes in the blood may be a sign of brain cells deteriorating even when people appear healthy.

Dr Simon Ridley, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘More work is needed to confirm these findings, but a blood test to identify people at risk of Alzheimer’s would be a real step forward for research.’

Dr Doug Brown, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘Having such a test would be an interesting development, but it also throws up ethical considerations. If this does develop in the future people must be given a choice about whether they would want to know, and fully understand the implications.’