The study’s authors claim that the new method outperforms other blood tests for Alzheimer’s and could make diagnosing the disease more accessible while cutting down on costs.
When it comes to Alzheimer's, one of the biggest hurdles patients face is actually testing and getting a confirmed diagnosis for the disease. Tried and true methods that include brain imaging with MRI scanners, and spinal fluid tests, can be incredibly expensive. A lot of communities throughout the world don’t even have access to these tools.
“At present, diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease requires neuroimaging,” Thomas Karikari, assistant professor of psychiatry at Pitt and senior author of the study, said in a statement. “Those tests are expensive and take a long time to schedule, and a lot of patients, even in the U.S., don’t have access to MRI and PET scanners. Accessibility is a major issue.”and tau tangles, which are abnormal proteins in neurons; and brain neurodegeneration, which is when nerve cells lose function and die.
However, the most common blood diagnostics are also fairly limited as they can only pick up on a few of the biomarkers . That’s why the Pitt researchers decided to focus on a biomarker dubbed “brain-derived tau” , which is not only detectable in blood tests but strongly correlates with Alzehiemer’s-related neurodegeneration in spinal fluid.
These findings can lead to greater accessibility, particularly to communities of color that are disproportionately under diagnosed when it comes to Alzeheimer’s disease. Karikari believes that this reinforces the “huge need for diversity in clinical research, not just by skin color but also by socioeconomic background” and also more accessible diagnostic testing.
“To develop better drugs, trials need to enroll people from varied backgrounds and not just those who live close to academic medical centers,” Karikari said. “A blood test is cheaper, safer and easier to administer, and it can improve clinical confidence in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and selecting participants for clinical trial and disease monitoring.”
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