A new diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s, which detects the disease earlier, could be used in hospitals within three years of the breakthrough in understanding the disease, scientists say.
Researchers hope the condition can be detected earlier and treated more effectively once two key signs that a person is developing the disease are identified, in the form of proteins in the brain.
And they say their results could pave the way for new treatments in the future.
The researchers behind the study are currently working on a large human trial of the diagnostic test, expected to take place in 2023, involving hundreds of patients in several countries, including the UK.
At best, this could lead to a new NHS diagnostic test within “three to five years,” lead researcher Ashwin Venkataraman said.
“I am very pleased with these results. This study harnessed the power of several forms of advanced brain imaging that were previously not possible to uncover for the first time the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease in patients,” Dr. Venkataraman, clinical lecturer at King’s College London and visiting fellow at Imperial College London, the institution that led the study.
The researchers scanned the brains of 12 Alzheimer’s patients and 16 healthy controls – a small sample size, so they want to confirm the results with a larger study.
Over time, they found that patients with severe disease had altered levels of two important brain biomarkers — molecules that signal the presence of a condition or disease.
The researchers found that elevated levels of the first marker — a protein known as S1R — were associated with widespread cellular stress that disrupts neurotransmitter transmission. Neurotransmitters allow neurons to communicate with each other.
Meanwhile, reduced levels of a second marker, the MC1 protein, have been associated with defective mitochondria—the energy-producing units in cells—and were most prominently observed in the brain’s hippocampus and thalamus.
Researchers believe that these mechanisms together cause the underlying loss of communication between brain cells, tissue degeneration, and brain shrinkage that are responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.
They hope doctors can test these molecular markers to identify patients at greatest risk of disease progression. This allows them to intervene earlier and monitor and control the course of the disease.
These findings may also help scientists develop new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease that could target underlying cellular stress and mitochondrial dysfunction and slow its progression, the researchers say.
“This work has helped us understand an important piece of the puzzle, Alzheimer’s disease, and has opened up several new ideas,” the doctor said. Venkataraman.
“This could help detect early signs of the disease, as well as develop and test new drugs to fight Alzheimer’s disease, such as mitochondrial therapy.
“Early detection of clinically relevant markers of the disease is critical to slow or even stop its progression. More work is needed, but these are exciting steps in the Alzheimer’s treatment process.”
There is currently no simple and reliable test to diagnose this condition. Elsewhere, researchers are developing tests to detect the disease’s characteristic protein, beta-amyloid, which accumulates in the brain and damages it.
However, Dr-Test Venkataraman may detect signs earlier as the markers may appear earlier.
“This makes it possible to evaluate much earlier changes in the disease. We don’t know how soon, but hopefully we’ll find out in a larger study,” he said.
Professor Paul Matthews of Imperial College London said: “This is an important study. By identifying what is going wrong as early as possible, new treatments can be developed to slow or prevent Alzheimer’s disease and help those at risk live longer and more fulfilling lives.”
breakthrough in drugs
In November, hopes arose that a new drug called lecanemab could be the crucial treatment that Alzheimer’s patients have been waiting for decades.
The announcement that the drug slowed the progression of the disease by 27 percent was hailed by some experts as welcome proof that Alzheimer’s can be treated.
Others have warned that there is still a long way to go as lekanemab is still far from curing the disease and appears to have nasty side effects.
However, the news provides further evidence that it may only be a matter of time before an effective treatment is developed, making early diagnosis even more beneficial for patients.
Professor John-Paul Taylor of Newcastle University, who was not involved in the study, said: “This is an intriguing and important article for the field. It shows how brain cells are stressed and how the batteries of these cells, called mitochondria, work.”
“This has implications for identifying new treatment options, and also gives us a powerful tool to directly and more quickly track the brain’s response to new drugs.”
Katherine Gray of the Alzheimer’s Society, who funded the study, said: “This exciting study was the first time that mitochondria and cellular stress have been shown to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease in humans, opening up new possibilities for medicinal purposes or assays. “
Dr. Richard Oakley, also of the Alzheimer’s Society, added: “These results could open up new avenues for drug development, and the methods used by researchers could also help identify patients at an earlier stage of the disease and the impact of potential drugs on recognizing these systems.”
The study was conducted by Imperial and included researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Newcastle and Chicago, as well as drug development companies Invicro, Pfizer and Bristol Meyers. The results are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Dementia cost:
Around 900,000 people are currently living with dementia in the UK. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, there will be 1.6 million people with dementia in the UK by 2040.
The total cost of caring for people with dementia in the UK is £34.7 billion. Over the next two decades, this amount will rise sharply to reach £94.1bn by 2040.
These costs consist of health care costs (GGD costs), social care costs (home and hospital costs), and unpaid care costs (from family members).
Possible treatments
The good news is that there are many promising treatments for Alzheimer’s in development, of which lecanemab is the most advanced.
The drug is designed to attack and remove amyloid, a protein that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and is the focus of treatment searches.
Another toxic protein, called tau, is found where brain cells die, and researchers would like it not to be ignored just because of its success with amyloid.
Several pharmaceutical companies, including Roche, Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly, are working on tau-targeting therapies. At least 16 treatments are currently in clinical trials with results expected within the next three years.
And yet another line of attack enhances a compound called BDNF, which can revitalize cells and help them make new connections. A new clinical trial at UC San Diego will soon test whether gene therapy with BDNF stimulants can help patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
But experts warned that an effective and safe treatment remains elusive, even with lecanemab, which is still questionable.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has pushed back the deadline for finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease – the most common form of dementia – from 2025 to 2030, stressing how difficult it is to make progress. An earlier deadline was set at the G8 Dementia Summit in 2013.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.