Επιστήμονες ανακάλυψαν μια εξέταση αίματος για τη διάγνωση της νόσου Alzheimer (Αλτσχάιμερ) χωρίς την ανάγκη μιας δαπανηρής απεικόνισης του εγκεφάλου ή της επώδυνης οσφυονωτιαίας παρακέντησης (CSF από το sample of cerebrospinal fluid), where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid is taken from the spinal column. If validated, the test could allow faster diagnosis of the disease, meaning treatments could begin sooner.
The Guardian he says:
Current guidelines recommend the detection of three distinct markers: abnormal amyloid and protein accumulations, and neurodegeneration – the slow και προοδευτική απώλεια νευρωνικών κυττάρων σε συγκεκριμένες περιοχές του εγκεφάλου. Αυτό μπορεί να γίνει μέσω ενός συνδυασμού απεικόνισης του εγκεφάλου και ανάλυσης CSF. Ωστόσο, μια οσφυονωτιαία παρακέντηση μπορεί να είναι επώδυνη και πολλοί άνθρωποι μπορεί να εμφανίσουν πονοκεφάλους ή πόνους στην πλάτη μετά τη procedure, while brain imaging is expensive and time-consuming to program.
Although current blood tests can accurately detect abnormalities in amyloid proteins, detecting brain-specific markers of nerve cell damage has been more difficult.
Professor Thomas Karikari at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues around the world focused on developing an antibody-based blood test that would detect a specific form of the brain-derived tau protein specific to the disease. Alzheimer's.
They tested it in 600 patients at various stages of Alzheimer's disease and found that the levels of the protein correlated directly with the levels of tau that showed up in the CSF test. Thus they could reliably distinguish Alzheimer's from other neurodegenerative diseases.
Η research published in Brain magazine.