The sooner we realize Alzheimer Disease the better, but we still don’t have an easy and reliable way to do it. However, thanks to new research, if the new models prove correct, the disease could show up 10 years before symptoms appear in a simple blood test.
Researchers have linked a sugar molecule in the blood to the abnormal accumulation of the proteins amyloid beta and tau that characterize Alzheimer’s. These proteins clump together in the brain and kill neurons.
Discover this special molecule – halved N-acetylglucosamine – could give doctors a way to detect an increased risk of Alzheimer’s. It’s a molecule called a glycanand these glycans sit on the surface of proteins and affect how they work.
“The role of glycans, structures made of sugar molecules, is a relatively unexplored area in dementia research,” says Robin Ziyue Zhou, neurologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
“In our study, we show that blood glycan levels change early in the development of the disease.”
Researchers examined data from 233 people who were part of the Swedish National Study of Aging and Caregiving in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K). The original data were collected in 2001-2004, with follow-ups continuing for 17 years at set intervals based on the age of the participants.
The data showed that people with matched blood glycan and tau levels were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s-type dementia. This link was seen before in the cerebrospinal fluid in the spine, but blood tests are much easier to do.
If these findings evolve into an Alzheimer’s screening test, the researchers plan to add other criteria, such as looking for the APOE4 gene, what goes with it with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“We also show that a simple statistical model that accounts for blood glycan and tau levels, the risk gene APOE4 and a memory test can be used to predict Alzheimer’s disease almost a decade before symptoms such as memory loss appear.” with a reliability of 80 percent,” says medical biochemist Sophia Schedin Weiss from the Karolinska Institute.
Why the glycan molecules show signs of Alzheimer’s before damage occurs in the brain isn’t clear, although it’s definitely something future studies can explore in more depth.
While we don’t yet have a cure for Alzheimer’s or a way to reverse its effects, there are ways the symptoms can be managed — and discoveries like these can bring us closer to understanding why Alzheimer’s develops and how it can be prevented.
Ultimately, this means that Alzheimer’s risk could be very accurately predicted with a small set of tests, none of which is complicated or lengthy. The researchers are now working with primary care experts to investigate this further.
“We hope that blood glycans will prove to be a valuable addition to current methods for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Shedin Weiss
The research was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
