Finding Alzheimer's: A potential breakthrough

New research gives hope for developing a diagnostic test. An experimental test has shown promise for identifying Alzheimer's disease, according to a small study in Geneva, Switzerland.

By Colin Allen, published on April 01, 2003

An experimental test has shown promise for identifying Alzheimer's disease, according to a small study conducted by researchers in Geneva, Switzerland. The test, which involves identifying proteins in a sample of spinal fluid, has raised hopes that there may finally be a better way to detect the disease. With recognition, doctors could start treating patients earlier to minimize their Alzheimer's symptoms.

Alzheimer's is now diagnosed by a patient's symptoms--such as memory loss and disorientation. Yet these symptoms can be mistaken as other forms of dementia. An autopsy is the only indisputable way to know if a patient had the disease.

But by analyzing a patient's spinal fluid, Odile Carrette, Ph.D., a researcher at Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland found that Alzheimer's patients have certain proteins that mark the disease. She found 17 protein markers that manifest in higher or lower levels in Alzheimer's patients than they do in healthy patients.

To test her findings, Carrette did a small study where she correctly identified nine out of 10 patients with the disease and ruled out the 10 subjects without Alzheimer's. The more protein markers a patient had, the more likely it was they would develop the disease.

According to the AlzheimerÕs Disease and Related Disorders Association, 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's. It impacts one in 10 people over 65 and nearly half of those over 85. The current results were reported on April 5 at the annual Experimental Biology meeting.

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