World first blood test a game changer for Alzheimers

World first research from Macquarie University could diagnose Alzheimer’s disease up to 20 years before a patient shows symptoms.

The team, led by neurobiologist Professor Ralph Martins, have created a low-cost blood test that locates the biomarkers of Alzheimers in patients years before they show any other signs of the disease.

“Our findings highlight promising biomarkers for use in early diagnostic and prognostic blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease, prior to symptoms,” said Macquarie University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences Research Fellow and lead author, Dr Pratishtha Chatterjee.

A study of 100 volunteers aged from 65 to 90 from the Kerr Anglican Retirement Village showed higher blood levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins in cognitively normal older adults whose brain scans showed pre-clinical Alzheimer’s, than in otherwise similar adults with normal brain tissue.

Current diagnosis of Alzheimer’s involves cognitive test and neurological scans that will only show results when symptoms are already occurring.

Thanks to the new blood test, patients can be diagnosed, and early intervention will be possible. It will also assist in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s medication which, up until now had only been undertaken in patients whose cognitive function was already compromised.