Early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is the only possibility for clinical treatments to demonstrate their effectiveness
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For neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s, Early diagnosis is essential to slow its progression. Unfortunately, however, it often occurs when the symptoms are already manifest and the stage of the disease is already advanced.
But something is changing: researchers from all over the world are trying and finding ways to diagnose these diseases early, before it’s too late and the symptoms are already severe.
A new study conducted by researchers from the Karolinska Institutet of Solna, Sweden, is moving in this direction: it has been demonstrated that a particular type of sugar molecule, present in the blood, is associated with the level of tau, a protein that plays a fundamental role in the development of severe dementia.
Read also: New breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research: Tau protein degeneration observed for the first time
The role of glycans, structures made up of sugar molecules, is a relatively unexplored field in dementia research, explained Professor Robin Zhou, among the authors of the study. – We have shown, however, that blood levels of glycans are altered early in the development of the disease.
I study
In patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia, the neurons in the brain are damaged beyond repair and die. This phenomenon has so far been thought to be a consequence of the abnormal accumulation of amyloid-beta and tau proteins.
To be effective, clinical treatments against these diseases should start early in the disease process, before too many neurons have died, to reverse the process before it is too late.
By measuring glycan levels in patients’ blood via a simple blood sample, Swedish researchers found that individuals with matching levels of glycans and tau had twice as likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s.
A simple statistical model that takes into account blood glycan and tau levels, the risk gene APOE4 and a memory test can be used to predict Alzheimer’s with 80% reliability nearly a decade before they appear obvious symptoms, memory loss – explain the study authors.
To arrive at these results, the researchers followed 233 participants in the course for 17 years Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K).
All blood samples were collected between 2001 and 2004, while cyclical follow-ups were done every three to six years to test for factors such as memory loss and the development of dementia.
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Font: Alzheimer’s & Dementia / Karolinska Institutet
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