Fresh hope in battle against Alzheimer’s

The early stages of Alzheimer’s disease could be detected before debilitating plaques develop, a new study has found.

Scientists have discovered how to trace a protein made when the brain gets inflamed or damaged and increases before the amyloid plaques develop.

The discovery by Professor Aman Mann and colleagues at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in California could lead to drugs being targeted at diseased areas of the brain to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as glioblastoma, brain injuries and stroke.

Researchers said that the findings could also be used to diagnose those patients at high risk.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting an estimated 850,000 Britons.