Method diagnoses Alzheimer’s decades before symptoms
Researchers at Gothenburg University developed a reference method to identify Alzheimer’s decades before symptoms appear now became an international standard. It will now be used to diagnose the disease worldwide.
After decades of research, Henrik Zetterberg and Kaj Blennow at Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, were able to develop a method that measures the exact amount of beta amyloid in spinal fluid and diagnose Alzheimer’s ten to thirty years before the disease becomes symptomatic.
The test measures the level of beta amyloid protein in the spinal cord. Beta amyloid is a natural protein produced by the brain and is quickly transported out the spinal fluid and blood. For Alzheimer’s patients, the protein gets stuck in the brain and clump together.
“If the concentration of beta amyloid in the spinal fluid is abnormally low, it indicates that the protein is sticking in the brain, which is the earliest sign of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Henrik Zetterberg.
The Gothenburg researchers’ pioneering studies have gained wide international recognition since the measurement method they developed was approved as the global reference method.
This major advance coincides with recent studies that show promising results for different drug candidates that attack Alzheimer’s disease and target beta amyloids.
“These new drugs will likely prove most effective for persons who have just begun to accumulate beta amyloids in their brain. Then a well-proven and standardized method becomes crucial, as it ensures that these people are identified in a diagnostically safe and precise manner,” says Kaj Blennow.
