There may be a new test for Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists in Germany have created a new blood test that may provide much earlier diagnosis of the degenerative neurological disorder.
A new way to test
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. It can currently only be diagnosed with certainty at autopsy. There is a lot of interest from the public and medical community in finding an accurate test.
The German team focused on micro-RNAs (miRNAs) which are small non-coding RNA molecules known to influence the way genes are expressed. MiRNAs can be found circulating in bodily fluids. The team tested a panel of miRNAs among 48 people with Alzheimer’s and 12 people without, and discovered different levels in the people with dementia.
They developed a cohort and tried the test on a larger group of 202 individuals – some with Alzheimer’s, some healthy and some with other neurological disorders. The test not only identified people with Alzheimer’s but also identified the people with other degenerative disease.
Promising results
The test was shown to be 93 percent accurate, 95 percent specific and 92 percent specific. The researchers acknowledged that the test is promising and has potential. However, it still needs to be validated for clinical use and may work best in combination with other clinical test like MRI or other brain imaging. The test was able to distinguish Alzheimer's patients from those with other neurodegenerative disorders with an accuracy of 75 percent.
Perhaps some refining will improve results
“Since the 12-miRNA signature has been tailored to differentiate between Alzheimer’s disease and controls, other miRNAs may likely contribute to a signature that permits also a better differentiation between the other tested diseases and Alzheimer’s disease,” wrote the study authors.
Source: MedicalNewsToday, Genome Biology
