First Ever Large-Scale Human Study Validates Multiple Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease
Through studying brain scans and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy adults researchers at Washington University have shown that changes in key biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease during midlife can help identify those who will develop dementia years later. The study is published in JAMA Neurology.
The current study focused on data gathered over 10 years and involved 169 cognitively normal research participants ages 45 to 75 when they entered the study. Each participant received a complete clinical, cognitive imaging and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis every three years, with a minimum of two evaluations. At the participants’ initial assessments the researchers divided them into three age groups; early-middle age (45-54); mid-middle age (55- 64); and late-middle age (65-74).
Among the biomarkers evaluated in the current study were, amyloid beta 42, a protein that is the principal ingredient of Alzheimer’s plaques; Tau, a structural component of brain cells that increases in the cerebrospinal fluid as Alzheimer’s disease damages brain cells; YKL-40, a newly recognized protein that is indicative of inflammation and is produced by brain cells; and the presence of amyloid plaques in the brain, as seen via amyloid PET scans.
The data findings show that drops in amyloid beta 42 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid among cognitively normal participants ages 45-54 are linked to the appearance of plaques in brain scans years later. The results also showed that tau and other biomarkers of brain-cell injury increase sharply in some individuals as they reach their mid-50s to mid-70s, and YKL-40 rises throughout the age groups focused on in the study...
Read more about the study at Health Innovations.
http://health-innovations.org/2015/07/07/first-ever-large-scale-human-study-validates-biomarkers-for-alzheimers-disease/
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