New Blood Test May Potentially Facilitate Detection Of Alzheimer's Disease At Early Stage

At that point, symptomatic treatment is the only available option. "If we wish to have a drug at our disposal that can significantly inhibit the progress of the disease, we need blood tests that detect Alzheimer's in its pre-dementia stages," says Prof Dr Klaus Gerwert, Head of the Department of Biophysics at RUB. "By applying such drugs at an early stage, we could prevent dementia, or at the very least delay its onset," adds Prof Dr med. Jens Wiltfang, Head of the Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Göttingen and Clinical Research Coordinator at DZNE Göttingen.

Using the methods now developed in Bochum and Göttingen, the researchers have analysed samples from 141 patients. They have achieved a diagnostic precision of 84 per cent in the blood and 90 per cent in cerebrospinal fluid, compared with the clinical gold standard. The test revealed an increase of misfolded biomarkers as spectral shift of Amyloid beta band below threshold, thus diagnosing Alzheimer's. "What's unique about it is that this is the only robust label-free test with a single threshold," as Andreas Nabers describes the result of his dissertation.

The sensor's surface is coated with highly specific antibodies which extract biomarkers for Alzheimer's from the blood or the cerebrospinal fluid, taken from the lower part of the back (lumbar liquor). The infrared sensor analyses if the biomarkers show already pathological changes, which can take place more than 15 years before any clinical symptoms appear. This method has been featured as the cover story in the internationally renowned academic journal "Biophotonics", and the results of the study were also published in "Analytical Chemistry".

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