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>Scientists have developed a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease without the need for expensive brain imaging or a painful lumbar puncture, where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is drawn from the lower back.
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>Although current blood tests can accurately detect abnormalities in amyloid and tau proteins, detecting markers of nerve cell damage that are specific to the brain has been harder. Karikari and his colleagues around the world focused on developing an antibody-based blood test that would detect a particular form of tau protein called brain-derived tau, which is specific to Alzheimer’s disease.
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>If validated, the test could enable faster diagnosis of the disease, meaning therapies could be initiated earlier.

Article: Brain-derived tau: a novel blood-based biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease-type neurodegeneration https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awac407

> meaning therapies could be initiated earlier

Would be helpful if this could also be cheaper.

If they dont know what causes it, how can they test for it?

If, in the future, I am going to have an incurable deadly disease for which there is no treatment, I think the quality of my life is better without this knowledge.

Confirmed cases all having the same biological markers? (Not a scientist btw)

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They’re checking for a specific protein that’s indicative of an onset. If found (and a blood draw is much easier and cheaper than scans) they can start preventive treatment sooner.

As always, the key word is "could" not will.

Eventually. R&D costs money

Preventative treatment - like what?

I am not an expert in any way, but aren't there medications that slow progression, especially if started early?

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Trials are in progress to slow it - not sure about prevention yet but if you can increase the timeline of Alzheimer’s or dementia impact by 1/3 or 2/3, trust me… it’s worth it.

You'll eventually know either way, at least you get to plan ahead more with an earlier diagnosis minimizing the potential for hurting yourself or others. That's not the main point though, this can be used to check if treatments are working at slowing the disease or not.

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I dunno. From my experience with my mother I would say that the effects of the disease begin to render themselves apparent in plenty of time for all appropriate arrangements to be made.

Think of it this way, if we come up with a drug that we think helps limit the effects of alzheimers then we can test it on those who we know will have alzheimers. Over time we will have our answer clearly. That's huge in the scientific world. To have an actual population that we know will have the disease as opposed to just guessing in the dark is very important. We are finally limiting error in testing in this terrible disease.

This mixed with the medication that basically halts the disease if you catch it early will save the lives and minds of thousands of people.

To many nay sayers in this thread.

The problem with that is Alzheimer’s doesn’t really have something simple like that. For instance, you can’t say they have Alzheimer’s even if they have the elevated markers and brain decay if they don’t have symptoms. There are many cases where they should have symptoms, but don’t. Other cases where they have symptoms but no markers are present. That’s why it’s so hard to diagnose and make treatments for Alzheimer’s as the things we think are connected don’t seem to be the only factors.

But forgot where they left it?

This is good news. Now only if we can develop better treatments for it, then early knowledge can be very useful.

This is incredible news!

A blood test for Alzheimer's disease could revolutionize the way we diagnose and treat this devastating condition. This could lead to earlier diagnosis, better treatment, and the potential to slow or even stop the progress of the disease. It's an exciting development, and I can't wait to see how it will improve the lives of people living with Alzheimer's.

The point is right now the doctor has to just guess whether it's Alzheimer's or something else unless they can do expensive imaging tests and a spinal tap with expensive testing on the spinal fluid at a reference lab. An antibody test on blood would be way cheaper and easier to do at scale and allow earlier and more confident treatment to more people. This will become more important as treatment improves over time (hopefully).

Because we know certain things appear when it is present. Think of a smoke detector, you have that to tell you there's a fire even though what it actually detects is smoke. Your smoke detector still works even if the smoke detector can't tell what made the smoke.

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I would like to know before hand so i can plan my life around it namely buying a gun to end it all once the symptoms start.

That's very interesting. Does the test work in very early stage of the disease too?

It's good that your mother had the support structure of other folks to notice the changes, not everyone is so lucky.

Many people go "dementia they must have Alzheimer's" while that's pretty commonly true it isn't how it works. Dementia is merely a symptom but dementia has many other causes. It can be beneficial to make sure the symptoms are from Alzheimer's and not something else to ensure proper treatment. Plus I see this as one more step to understanding Alzheimer's since we scarily don't really know much yet it's about 1 in 5 will get it depending on how long they live and such. If we can understand the disease we can find better ways to treat it since treatment currently doesn't really do anything. The scary thing about Alzheimer's too is that for treatment to really make a difference on someone's life you need to start it as soon as the disease starts which is decades before others observe it's happening. We only realize the person has Alzheimer's when it's in a progressed state. In reality the disease probably started as early as their 30s and 40s and people just thought "you start forgetting as you age" which is true but it's also an early sign of the disease. So for me I know Alzheimer's runs in my family. Almost all of my grandmas 16 siblings got Alzheimer's. If I can get tested every other year starting at 30 or when I start noticing a decline in my memory I can get the treatment we currently have and prolong how long it'll be until the symptoms affect my every day life.

"Scientists develop blood test for Alzheimer’s disease"

Correction:

"Scientists hope they have developed a blood test for Alzheimer’s disease"

Alzheimer and dementia are cardiovascular diseases. ED (erectile dysfunction) is also a cardiovascular disfunction, and also refered to as the "canary in the coal mine" pertaining to bigger cardiovascular issues in men. The arteries of the penis and brain are so tiny they are usually affected first. The trouble with preventing/reversing ED and dementia is a complete overhaul of diet which most people won't do. Check out the video for the science.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-prevent-alzheimers-with-diet/

Would be helpful if we had meaningful therapies.

Aalzheimers is largely lifestyle related. Studies have shown that exercise can help prevent MCI from developing into full on dementia. Obviously, we don't know in those cases if Alzheimers specifically was avoided, but it stands to reason.

Diet is also a huge factor. A revised diet might prevent or at least delay onset.

I've been reading about a lowercase diet for Alzheimer's where the key factor is decreasing brain insulin resistance. Re: type 3 diabetes.

Life insurance won’t pay out to your loved ones if you die by suicide

Yep! Ignorance is blisss

There is zero treatment for Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

There is no medication that halts the disease, at any stage.

There are trials under way to address this. The way it's been discovered is often too late in the process and costly, so insurance companies screw with the process. Blood draws are much easier on their wallet and give a good idea if further testing should be performed.

The majority of clinical trials fail to get approval from the FDA. There is currently NO proven treatment for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Dad had it and that is pretty much my plan in case I get it.

To poor for life insurance

Ya I've been hearing about that for some time.

What I think is likely more impactful is lowering saturated fat for people with the Alzheimers gene (Apoe4) -- the highest sf consumers are 1100% more likely to develop dementia than the lowest sf consumers (among Apoe4s)

*looks at comment history*

I can't tell if you're trying really hard to argue with me over a pedantic misrepresentation of my initial comment, or just being your generally negative self, but...you win. Congrats.

It's not the fat, it's the excess carbs, which become too much glucose that causes the brain to be insulin resistant.

Saturated fats can be really good for you, especially if they contain medium chain fatty acids which creates ketones without being in ketosis. If your brain can't take up glucose properly, feeding it ketones will keep it going. It works so well it can have a huge impact on epilepsy and c ommin brain fog.

Check out this 2002 article from Gary Taubes in The NYT magazine. He makes some points that still stand 20 years later.

I gather you've been to Google Scholar and read up on the abandoned type- 3 diabetes data? It's eye-opening. The AMA seems completely uninterrsted in non-pharmaceutical remedies.

Um it's definitely the saturated fat. I've got the study I can link it later. Apoe4s have different lipid metabolism.

Yes, we take a much longer time to get into ketosis than people without the APOE4. An issue with low liver production of certain enzyme.

Research "proving" beta-amyloid plaques as a cause of Alzheimer's Disease were faked and the results called in to question earlier this year.

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This technique may or may not be relevant for detecting Alzheimer's, as it is based upon suspect science.

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https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease?cookieSet=1

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https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid-data-what-does-it-mean

This isn’t based on amyloid beta…

That actually isn't true in many cases. They usually have a waiting period (like you have to have had it for a year or two), but they will pay out for suicide. You just can't go by life insurance and then commit suicide the next day.

https://www.annuityexpertadvice.com/life-insurance-pay-suicidal-death/

My own life insurance (two separate policies) specifically excludes suicide. My fiancés policy does the same.

There are actually some medications that can slow down the progress/help maintain a certain level of cognitive functioning for longer. So early diagnosis is actually really important. If you have early onset Alzheimer's, it may not make that much of a difference, but, let's say you're 80 when you start to show symptoms, depending on how physically healthy you are there's a chance that starting meds right away could delay the worst effects until after you die a natural death.

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Thank you! Good to know.

It was just on /r/science the other day.

Should’ve found a better one then? All the ones I’ve owned had a 2-5 year waiting period.

My NY life policy pays out, there was a waiting period though. I asked the lady whom did our physicals.