Early Alzheimer’s detection test discovered
Even the researchers at Beaumont Health admitted they are excited about their findings in studying early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Once we analyzed the data and we looked at the initial results everyone was very, very excited,’’ said Dr. Stewart Graham, Alzheimer’s Research Institute Director at Beaumont — who cautioned that there is still much work to be done.
Using precision medicine, the research team has discovered a simple blood test that may provide an early prediction of Alzheimer’s disease in patients long before any symptoms appear.
“The holy grail is to identify patients in the pre-clinical stage so effective early interventions, including new medications, can be studied and ultimately used,” said Dr. Bahado-singh, chairman of the Beaumont Department of Obstetrics and Gynecologist and an expert in women’s health “That’s why we are excited about the results of this research.”
The discovery, reported Wednesday in the peer-reviewed, scientific journal PLOS ONE, has the potential to provide diagnoses in patients much earlier in the disease process – before symptoms develop and the brain is already irreversibly damaged.
The brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease are believed to precede the onset of symptoms by years; about 60% of patients are women.
“Drugs used in the late stage of the disease do not seem to make much difference, so there is a tremendous amount of interest in diagnosis in the early stages of the disease,” said Dr. Khaled Imam, who specializes in treating Alzheimer’s and other diseases affecting the elderly at Beaumont.
“Any delay in symptom onset is likely to be very beneficial. Also, a spinal tap or MRI can identify the start of the disease. But that is invasive and/or expensive. And you cannot do a spinal tap on everyone over age 65. So blood is thought to be a desirable way of approaching this. And it would be relatively cheap and minimally invasive as compared to an MRI or spinal tap.”
Imam said that with a growing older population Alzheimer’s could become a silver tsunami.
“Alzheimer’s is probably the disease of the current mid-century and later on, the impact will be very profound because of the aging of the population globally,’’ Bahado-singh said. “The costs will be astronomical. It’s estimated it will exceed the budget of many countries. We’re talking about a global pandemic.’’
The doctor said that efforts to treat Alzheimer’s have not been successful since most cases are identified late in the development of the disease.
“The DNA changes we see are known to occur pretty early. There is some evidence they occur before serious deterioration. Not only will it allow us to identify affected brains but sufficiently early in the process that many of the medications and lifestyle changes that are being tested to try to improve Alzheimer’s can be deployed early enough and if not cure the disease, delay the process. That could have tremendous benefits in terms of longevity and certainly in terms of cost,’’ Bahadosingh said.
“Any amount of time we can minimize the duration of the severe dementia phase of the Alzheimers will be very beneficial to patients and their loved ones,’’ he added.
The next step is to apply for funding to build on what they have discovered and to continue their research.
“Drugs used in the late stage of the disease do not seem to make much difference, so there is a tremendous amount of interest in diagnosis in the early stages of the disease.”
— Dr. Khaled Imam