Alzheimer's Cure, Treatment Latest News: New Blood Test Technology Can Predict Onset of Disease
There is a new way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease early before its physical symptoms start to appear.
The researchers over at the Seoul National University have developed a technology that can generate diagnostic results the same that a simple blood test would produce.
The experts focused on the high correlation between beta-amyloid levels in the bloodstream and the accumulation of the amyloid plaque in the brain and found that the former had proven an unstable biomarker since the elements in the blood in nature break down proteins.
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In line with this, the researchers found a way to prevent the amyloids from collapsing, resulting to the new technology. With it, the experts found out that the amyloid levels in the blood matched the amyloid build-up discovered via a PET scan 90 percent of the time, which is deemed high-accuracy.
Seoul National University professor and lead researcher Mook In-hee explained:
While most Alzheimer's diagnostics technologies identify the disease in patients with clearly visible symptoms, our technology can predict Alzheimer's even when a person is not showing symptoms.
This new technology would allow early detection of the disease increasing the chances to see to the condition before it worsens.
Apart from this promising development, neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli has recently provided more good news via New York Post, suggesting the possibility that the world is 10 to 20 years away from finding a cure to Alzheimer's disease. He explains that delaying its onset will be instrumental to dealing with the cases.
[The idea is to push] the disease back, by developing a drug that we can give to someone years before they start experiencing symptoms. It will change the course of the disease, pushing it back to the point where not only do they not experience any symptoms, but they're dying naturally.
Jebelli believes that "if Alzheimer's could be delayed for only one year, there would be 9 million fewer people with the disease by 2050" and a five-year delay would cut the number of patients in half allowing to save $600 billion a year in health services.
While getting there is admittedly an uphill battle, he believes that the world is at "the beginning of the end."
