Could a Blood Test Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer's Disease?

A new blood test might be able to spot the early signs of Alzheimer's, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at King's College London and Oxford University. Researchers identified a set of 10 key proteins found in participants' blood that helps determine whether the disease will be imminent within a year following the test. 

"Alzheimer's begins to affect the brain many years before patients are diagnosed (and) many of our drug trials fail because by the time patients are given the drugs the brain has already been too severely affected," said Simon Lovestone of Oxford University, who led this work from King's College London, via Reuters. "A simple blood test could help us identify patients at a much earlier stage to take part in new trials and hopefully develop treatments."

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, costing an estimated $604 billion per year and affecting 44 million people worldwide. That number is set to triple by 2050, according to the campaign group Alzheimer's Disease International.

For their research, study authors used blood samples from 1,148 people--476 with Alzheimer's, 220 with mild cognitive impairment and 452 elderly controls without dementia. All participants were also analyzed for 26 proteins previously found to be linked to Alzheimer's.

Findings showed that 16 of the 26 proteins were strongly associated with brain shrinkage in either MCI or Alzheimer's. In a second series of tests, researchers were also able to predict which patients would progress from MCI to Alzheimer's, showing an 87 percent accuracy rate.

Though researchers agree that their findings need to be replicated in larger studies, these results could hold promise for earlier diagnoses and better treatments in the future.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.