Scientists believe they have identified a blood biomarker that may signal the likelihood of dementia many years in advance, which would greatly improve therapy choices for Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses.
Data on 10,981 people were analyzed by researchers from the National Institute on Aging, the University of Texas, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States and other universities across the world. The data was collected over a period of 25 years.
In specifically, the researchers looked at the proteomes of these people, which is the entire catalog of proteins expressed in an organism and responsible for regulating everything from cellular communication to hormone levels.
Researchers looked at blood samples from patients aged 45 to 60 and discovered that 32 proteins were linked to an increased risk of dementia whether they were detected at abnormally high or low levels.
“The present study leveraged data from multiple cohorts to identify and characterize 32 proteins and 4 protein networks in plasma of middle-aged adults that were strongly associated with dementia risk in subsequent decades,” the authors write.
Although the study did not investigate the causal relationship between protein imbalances and dementia risk, the findings have the potential to improve the precision with which researchers estimate this risk in the elderly.
It was found that several of the proteins played no obvious role in brain activity. This lends credence to prior studies demonstrating that the brain isn’t the sole site where dementia first manifests and its causes aren’t first activated.
Proteostasis, the proper control of the proteome, was associated with several of the discovered proteins. Protein clumps, like those observed in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains, can be avoided with this method.
Other proteins performed crucial functions in the immune system, which may indicate that a reaction or failure of the immune system raises the risk of dementia setting in.
There is still a long way to go, but one day we may be able to test blood for indicators of dementia risk. Early detection of these symptoms allows for more targeted care.
Watching for imbalances and anomalies outside the brain may lead to a future understanding of the origins of illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease.
“We’re seeing so much involvement of the peripheral biology decades before the typical onset of dementia,” National Institute on Aging neuroscientist Keenan Walker told Nature.