Blood Plasma Biomarker May Facilitate Rapid Diagnosis of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

Although symptoms of advanced Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are well known, diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages requires careful cognitive testing by neurologists. Now, the discovery of a unique ratio of metabolites from blood samples of early-stage AD patients promises to speed diagnosis, allowing earlier treatments to be initiated.

Scientists at Brain Chemistry Labs (Jackson, WY, USA) sought to identify a usable biomarker from blood samples to characterize early-stage AD patients, in order to facilitate rapid diagnosis, early therapeutic intervention, and monitoring of clinical trials. The researchers compared metabolites from blood plasma in early-stage AD patients with blood plasma from healthy controls using two different analytical platforms: Amino Acid Analyzer and Tandem Mass-Spectrometer. The blood samples were drawn from patients with early-stage AD who had enrolled in an FDA-approved Phase II trial. The researchers hypothesized that a unique metabolic biomarker of early AD could be identified by examining the physiological amino acids and nitrogen containing compounds within these early disease state blood samples.

Image: Researchers have identified a blood plasma biomarker for early-stage AD (Photo courtesy of Pexels)

Current attempts to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease from blood samples depend on the presence of amyloid fragments, the molecules that cause brain tangles and plaques. Using an automated Amino Acid Analyzer along with confirmation from tandem mass-spectroscopy, the researchers examined metabolites displaying clear differences between AD and control blood plasma samples. They found that the concentration of 2-aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate normalized by taurine concentrations in blood plasma samples reliably identified early-stage AD patients. If verified with larger sample sizes, the quantification of 2-aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate could potentially assist in the diagnosis of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease when used in conjunction with the patient’s CDR score and other potential AD biomarkers.

“At the Brain Chemistry Labs, we consider amyloid plaques to be a consequence rather than the cause of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Paul Alan Cox, Executive Director of the Brain Chemistry Labs explains. “What is exciting about this new discovery is that it does not depend on amyloid and the assay can be performed on analytical equipment that is already present in most large hospitals.”

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