New blood biomarker can predict if cognitively healthy elderly will develop Alzheimer'sdisease NatureMedicine
"Our study argues that testing for the presence of brain amyloid along with blood biomarkers of astrocyte reactivity is the optimal screening to identify patients who are most at risk for progressing to Alzheimer's disease," said senior author Tharick Pascoal, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Pitt.
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition that causes progressive memory loss and dementia, robbing patients of many productive years of life.
Recent discoveries by groups like Pascoal's suggest that the disruption of other brain processes, such as heightened brain inflammation, might be just as important as amyloid burden itself in starting the pathological cascade of neuronal death that causes rapid cognitive decline.
"Astrocytes coordinate brain amyloid and tau relationship like a conductor directing the orchestra," said lead author of the study Bruna Bellaver, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at Pitt."This can be a game-changer to the field, since glial biomarkers in general are not considered in any main disease model.
The findings have direct implications for future clinical trials for Alzheimer's drug candidates. In aiming to halt disease progression sooner, trials are moving to earlier and earlier stages of pre-symptomatic disease, making correct early diagnosis of Alzheimer's risk critical for success.
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