Blood Test for Alzheimer's to Be Developed and Commercialized

A developer and supplier of multiplex protein detection arrays and array-based test kits, and a molecular diagnostics company focused on developing blood-based tests will cooperate to develop and commercialize an Alzheimer's disease (AD) detection blood test based on plasma biomarkers.

Satoris (Redwood City, CA, USA) scientists reported the utility of Alzheimer's related biomarkers in the November, 2007 edition of the journal Nature Medicine. Two hundred and fifty-nine blood samples were compared from individuals with presymptomatic to late-stage AD with those from individuals without the disease. Using signal profiling enabled by RayBiotech (Norcross, GA, USA) cytokine antibody arrays, the scientists measured the relative abundance of 120 known proteins found in plasma that function as chemical messengers between blood cells, brain cells, and cells of the immune system.

Among the 120 plasma markers a panel of 18 exhibited an expression pattern that was statistically different in the Alzheimer's samples versus other samples. This panel of 18 biomarkers was used to predict the presence of the disease in a test sample set with nearly 90 % accuracy.

The panel of 18 biomarkers will be applied to RayBiotech's Quantibody array platform. After validating performance of the resulting array-based test, it will initially be commercialized later this year as a research-use-only test, to support Alzheimer's research, and Alzheimer's drug development and clinical trials.

Dr. Ray (Ruo-Pan) Huang, founder and president of RayBiotech, Inc. "We expect this blood test will be well received as a valuable tool in Alzheimer's research and, potentially, as a diagnostic test as well." He added, "Using antibody-based approaches, more biomarkers can be identified, validated and put into clinical application faster and cheaper than with traditional methods based on mass spectrometry."

There is no cure for Alzheimer's, a degenerative brain disease that affects an estimated 3.1 million people in the United States and 26 million worldwide. Experts predict the toll may more than quadruple by 2050 as the population ages. Because its destructive effects may exist years before symptoms are apparent, substantial damage can occur prior to diagnosis. Alzheimer's diagnosis is currently costly and is largely dependent on the expertise of the physician.

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