Finally we may get early notice, then all we need is a protocol to prevent them from advancing.
http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2015/10/nj-researchers-closing-alzheimers-parkinsons-tests?et_cid=4891408&et_rid=648870051&type=headline
Alzheimer’s is feared for its quiet progress, giving only overlooked
warning signs until it’s too late to use the few interventions available
to slow it down.
But a new test under development at a New Jersey medical laboratory promises to diagnose the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s.
Robert Nagele, of the Rowan University School of Osteopathic
Medicine, has developed a test that looks for a series of obscure
antibodies, potentially detecting the dreaded disease even before
symptoms start.
Nagele presented the latest results on Sunday at the American Osteopathic Association’s yearly meeting in Orlando.
“There are significant benefits to early-disease detections because
we now know that many of the same conditions that lead to vascular
disease are also significant risk factors for Alzheimer’s,” said Nagele.
“People found to have preclinical disease can take steps to improve
their vascular health, including watching their diet, exercising and
managing any weight and blood-pressure issues to help stave off or slow
disease progression.
Nagele’s working theory of diagnostics is based off auto-antibodies
in the blood. All humans have thousands of them, and the biomarkers are a
response to disease and injury over a lifetime. A full cataloging of
those biomarkers could be the key to determining whether disease is
silently developing.
The idea for the Alzheimer’s test began with a “Eureka” moment in
1999. Nagele was sent a brain slide by a former student of his working
at Johnson and Johnson. When Nagele applied a stain to the brain matter,
the tissue darkened brown, showing proteins that should not have been
there in a healthy organ, he told The Star-Ledger in 2011.
Nagele thereafter narrowed down the auto-antibodies he was looking at
from a sample of nearly 10,000 down to just 10, he added.
Accuracy rates at that time were 95 percent, and the test took just 24 hours, according to the report.
Alzheimer’s is caused by a breakdown in the blood-brain barrier,
Nagele and his team believe. Once plasma components leak into the brain,
autoantibodies could potentially bind to neurons, and accelerate the
telltale build-up of beta amyloid.
Nagele’s findings on the test have been previously published in
various journals. Further findings are on the way, he told the
conference.
Rowan University also announced today that a parallel diagnostic
developed by Nagele can detect Parkinson’s Disease at an accuracy rate
of 87.9 percent at its earliest stages. The research was published in
the journal Immunology Letters, and has created a bit of a buzz.
“The abilities to identify subjects at early stage of disease and to
measure impact of therapeutics would improve our likelihood of
successful intervention, and Dr. Nagele’s work is a step in that
direction,” said Catherine Kopil, senior associate director of research
programs at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
“Replication of these findings will be an important next step.”
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