Researchers at Huashan Hospital of Shanghai-based Fudan University have identified new blood biomarkers that can help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in its early stage.
Through a large-scale study involving more than 800 people, the researchers found that plasma eosinophilic glioma protein was significantly higher in blood samples of Alzheimer’s patients compared to individuals without Alzheimer’s disease, reports Al-Rai daily.
Yu Jin Tai, the lead researcher of the study, said that the level of glioma fibrillary acidic protein in plasma increased with the progression of the disease and reached its peak in the Alzheimer’s dementia stage. More importantly, this increase in protein level occurs in the preclinical stage.
There is a long latent period before Alzheimer’s patients develop clinical symptoms. If patients are diagnosed through detection methods in the preclinical stage, early intervention and delay in disease progression can be achieved, Yue said.
According to Yue, when patients are diagnosed based on clinical symptoms and imaging indications, it is possible that the disease has already progressed to the middle and late stages. Therefore, many of the recent clinical trials focus on disease prevention programs, which require identification of groups at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study results were published in the International Journal of Clinical Chemistry earlier in March.
