From: hound23x@gmail.com   
      
   Alzheimer's Test Detects Disease Decade Ahead of Onset   
      
   by Megan Scudellari   
   1:55 PM CST November 16, 2014   
          
      
      
   Researchers found that patients with Alzheimer's had higher amounts of the   
   inactive form of the protein and lower amounts of the active form than healthy   
   individuals. Photographer: Junji Yoshino/Bloomberg   
   Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A new blood test for Alzheimer's appears to detect the   
   disease as many as 10 years before clinical diagnosis is possible -- far   
   sooner than other tests in development.   
   The test, described publicly for the first time yesterday, could soon be used   
   to identify and treat patients with Alzheimer's earlier in their disease   
   progression. Those people could participate in clinical trials to help find   
   new treatments. Already,    
   the test distinguishes between patients and healthy elderly with 100 percent   
   accuracy.   
   "We will need replication and validation, but I'm very optimistic this work   
   will hold," Dimitrios Kapogiannis, the study's lead author and a   
   neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, said after a presentation   
   at the Society for Neuroscience    
   conference in Washington yesterday.   
      
   The blood test is still in the early stages of development and has only been   
   evaluated in 174 individuals, requiring a larger, long-term study before   
   widespread use, the authors said in a statement. NanoSomiX, an Aliso Viejo,   
   California-based biotech    
   company that develops blood assays for neurodegenerative diseases and is   
   sponsoring the study, plans to produce a commercial version of the test, the   
   company said in a separate statement.   
   Two other potential Alzheimer's blood tests were announced earlier this year.   
   One measures 10 fats in the bloodstream that appear to predict dementia with   
   90 percent accuracy within three years of its onset. Another uses 10 proteins   
   in the blood to    
   predict onset with 87 percent accuracy within a year.   
   At the National Institute on Aging, Kapogiannis and his team identified a   
   single protein in the brain involved in insulin signaling, called IRS-1, that   
   appears to be defective in Alzheimer's patients.   
   Exosome Pool   
   The researchers gathered blood samples from 70 individuals with Alzheimer's   
   disease, 20 cognitively normal elderly with diabetes, and 84 healthy adults.   
   Of the participants, 22 of the Alzheimer's patients provided samples taken one   
   to 10 years before    
   diagnosis.   
   From the samples, the researchers isolated exosomes, little lipid sacs that   
   bud off cell membranes and carry signals to other cells and tissues. From the   
   resulting pool of exosomes, they identified just those originating in the   
   brain, which contain IRS-1,   
    and measured the levels of the protein.   
   They found that patients with Alzheimer's had higher amounts of the inactive   
   form of the protein and lower amounts of the active form than healthy   
   individuals. The diabetics had intermediate levels.   
   These levels were so consistent that the team could predict whether a blood   
   sample came from an Alzheimer's patient, healthy individual, or a diabetic --   
   with no errors. This was true even for samples from Alzheimer's patients taken   
   10 years before they    
   were diagnosed.   
   "We were able to perfectly classify patients and controls," Kapogiannis said   
   during his presentation.   
   To contact the reporter on this story: Megan Scudellari in Washington at   
   mscudellari@bloomberg.net   
   To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at   
   tharrison5@bloomberg.net Carlos Caminada, Nancy Moran   
      
      
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-16/alzheimer-s-bl   
   od-test-may-detect-disease-decade-before-onset   
      
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