Alzheimer’s can be predicted 25 years early: Scientists

A team at Washington University School of Medicine who looked at families with a genetic risk of the disease assembled a ‘timeline’ of the unseen progress of Alzheimer’s much before the symptoms appear,researchers said.

Experts believe the ability to detect Alzheimer’s early would give the best chance of a successful treatment,the BBC News reported.

The study involved 128 people from the UK,US and Australia,who had a 50 per cent chance of inheriting one of three mutations certain to cause early Alzheimer’s,which often develops in people during their 30s and 40s.

This is much earlier than the more common form of the decease which generally affects people in their 60s. Those who carry the mutations will go on to develop the disease.

The researchers took into account the age of the participants’ parents when they developed the disease and therefore how many years it was likely to be before they too showed symptoms.

Scientists underwent blood and spinal fluid tests as well as brain scans and mental ability assessments.

The earliest change – a drop in spinal fluid levels of the key ingredient of Alzheimer’s brain plaques – can be detected 25 years before the anticipated age of disease onset,they suggest.

Raised levels of tau,a structural protein in brain cells can be seen in spinal fluid at 15 years, and shrinkage can also be detected within parts of the brain.

Scientists suggest that changes in the brain’s use of the sugar glucose and slight memory problems become apparent 10

years before symptoms would appear.

Researchers also tested other members of the families without the inherited mutations – and found no changes in the markers they tested for.

This important research highlights that key changes in the brain,linked to the inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease,happen decades before symptoms show,which may have major implications for diagnosis and treatment in the future,

Prof Clive Ballard,director of research at the Alzheimer’s

Society,said.

These findings are a good indicator that there may be key changes in the brain happening early in people who develop

non-hereditary Alzheimer’s disease,but we can’t be sure. Further research into this complex condition is needed to confirm a definite link, he said.

These results from people with the inherited form of Alzheimer’s seem to be very similar to the changes in the

non-genetic,common form of the disease, said Dr Eric Karran,director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.

It’s likely that any new treatment for Alzheimer’s would need to be given early to have the best chance of success. The ability to detect the very earliest stages of Alzheimer’s would not only allow people to plan and access care and existing treatments far sooner,but would also enable new drugs to be trialled in the right people,at the right time. Karran said.