A new skin test can detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages when it's most treatable.
Until now, diagnosis of Alzheimer's has been difficult. Doctors often can't tell the difference between early Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Presently, Alzheimer's can be diagnosed only after detailed psychiatric evaluations and by studying the brain after death.
The new test would be quick, easy and would also be the first test to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's while the patient is still alive. It uses proteins found in skin cells that are easy to spot and can differentiate Alzheimer's from other conditions, including Parkinson's disease.
Previous studies have suggested that Alzheimer's earliest warning is an imbalance in the immune system that shows up as inflammatory reactions that cause chemical changes throughout the entire body, not just in the brain. The imbalance causes a buildup of toxic proteins that causes brain cells to die.
Researchers believe that the plaques that accumulate in Alzheimer's patients' brains are a result of inflammation stopping the production of helpful non-toxic proteins that keep the toxic proteins in line. The new test measures the amounts of "good" proteins. Those who have high levels of the good protein don't develop Alzheimer's.
"Potential treatments of Alzheimer's are likely to have their greatest efficacy before the devastating and widespread impairment of brain function that inevitably develops after four or more years," said Daniel Alkon of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in Rockville, Maryland, who helped develop the test.
Sources: CBS News, Time
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