Early-stage detection of Alzheimer's in the blood

[OnlinePoker]

Using current techniques, Alzheimer's disease, the most frequent cause of dementia, can only be detected once the typical plaques have formed in the brain. At this point, therapy seems no longer possible. However, the first changes caused by Alzheimer's take place on the protein level up to 20 years sooner. A two-tier method developed at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) can help detect the disease at a much earlier stage. The researchers from Bochum published their report in the March 2019 edition of the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring.

"This has paved the way for early-stage therapy approaches, where the as yet inefficient drugs on which we had pinned our hopes may prove effective," says Professor Klaus Gerwert from the Department of Biophysics at RUB.

Protein folds incorrectly

In Alzheimer's patients, the amyloid beta protein folds incorrectly due to pathological changes long before the first symptoms occur. A team of researchers headed by Klaus Gerwert successfully diagnosed this misfolding using a simple blood test; as a result, the disease can be detected approximately eight years before the first clinical symptoms occur. The test wasn't suitable for clinical applications however: it did detect 71 per cent of Alzheimer's cases in symptomless stages, but at the same time provided false positive diagnoses for nine per cent of the study participants. In order to increase the number of correctly identified Alzheimer's cases and to reduce the number of false positive diagnoses, the researchers poured a lot of time and effort into optimising the test.

https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/rb-edo050319.php

[WhiteTara]

1. Thanks!

Important research and info

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I sure hope this is true...

My paternal grandmother developed Alzheimer's when she was 58 - 4 yrs older than I am now.

[mainer]

3. Is anyone else terrified of taking this test?

There really is no effective treatment yet. To get a death sentence like this would be awful.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. me...

[Nay]

5. Yeah, I am. What's the point, unless there is definitive medicine to stave it off? What a

thing to have hanging over your head -- and never mind the response from 'health' care institutions -- you'd never get hired, never get insured except with large monthly premiums -- a nightmare.

[mopinko]

6. no.

as they point out, we do have drugs that ought to work, or help a little, that may be far more effective if coupled w early detection.

it's a ways away, and presumably will be tested in tandem w currently approved meds.

i'm ready to take the chance.
fear is a thief. that's my mantra.
in this case the fear can take your life if you let it.

[defacto7]

18. This! Fear 'is' a thief.

[still_one]

8. A possible reason someone might want to know is so they can do effective planning, though

it wouldn't be applicable to everyone, because some could not deal with the ticking time bomb

[murielm99]

10. We have a family in my small town with Huntington's disease.

I have watched the varied reactions of the youngest generation to testing. This is a huge decision, and it can be a nightmare to have a death sentence hanging over one's head.

In this family, the grandmother and mother died of the disease. When the mother was diagnosed, she was relieved to know what she had. Also, it helped to know that her mother had an illness. She was not a drunk or drug addict, the way most of the town thought.

In the third generation, there were three girls and one boy, all born before the parents knew about the disease. One girl died of the condition at 34. She had two children. She was not tested. She was determined to ignore her family legacy.

Her brother was tested. He is fine. I don't know about the other two girls. I do know that all three of them have decided not to have children.

I know this is not alzheimer's but it is an example of someone facing a nightmare diagnosis and planning. I think I would want to know, to be able to plan for my future and not be a terrible burden to my family. My father and one uncle had dementia.

[still_one]

11. It is a perfect example Muriel. Woody Guthrie had Huntington's. It is an awful disease, and the

affected person is aware what is happening

I really hope with the human genome, they will be able to stop the suffering from these terrible diseases

[misanthrope]

20. "This is a huge decision, and it can be a nightmare to have a death sentence hanging over one's head

We all have a death sentence hanging over our heads, whether we want to be in denial about it or not. No one here gets out alive.

[ck4829]

27. Yeah, Huntington's isn't a pleasant way to go though, it's not dying in your sleep

And it takes a long time and there are chunks of you aren't even you anymore as it progresses.

[OnlinePoker]

12. In Canada, assisted suicide is available

In order to opt in, you have to be of "sound mind". Finding out you may have Alzheimer's before you start showing signs could be a benefit to those who want to take that option and prepare a living will for the inevitable day you can't make the choice on your own.

[3Hotdogs]

17. You may want to take the exit before you are labeled incompetent.

Does Canada have a provision of must have been diagnoses with only a certain time to live?

In.N.J., we gotta get that diagnosis of terminal illness or you don't get the drug. Lotta good that does if you know your mind is on the way, south.

[OnlinePoker]

22. Not a specific time, but they do have fairly strict standards

Here's what the law says:

241.2 (1) A person may receive medical assistance in dying only if they meet all of the following criteria:

(a) they are eligible — or, but for any applicable minimum period of residence or waiting period, would be

eligible — for health services funded by a government in Canada;

(b) they are at least 18 years of age and capable of making decisions with respect to their health;

(c) they have a grievous and irremediable medical condition;

(d) they have made a voluntary request for medical assistance in dying that, in particular, was not made as a result of external pressure; and

(e) they give informed consent to receive medical assistance in dying after having been informed of the means that are available to relieve their suffering, including palliative care.

(2) A person has a grievous and irremediable medical condition only if they meet all of the following criteria:

(a) they have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability;

(b) they are in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability;

(c) that illness, disease or disability or that state of decline causes them enduring physical or psychological

suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable;

and

(d) their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable, taking into account all of their medical circumstances, without a prognosis necessarily having been made as to the specific length of time that they have remaining.

http://eol.law.dal.ca/?page_id=236

The latest interim report at the link (with data up to the end of October), shows that more Canadians chose this option in the first 10 months of 2018 than in the first 2 1/2 years after the law was enacted. Approximately 1% of deaths in Canada are now assisted.

[3Hotdogs]

23. 2 b and d could be a problem to a person facing demintia and not wanting to face a memory care ward.

They could go to Switzerland or Holland.

[shanti]

9. I took the

23nme health test, which identifies the Alzheimer gene, and it showed that I have a "slight" chance of it. My paternal grandmother died from complications of it. I know what could possibly be coming down the pipeline, but maybe they'll discover a cure by then. I'm 63.

[Duppers]

15. I would like to know in order to plan.

It's all about *planning.* I'd be more likely to move near NYC where my son lives.

I've already faced the terror of my mortality.

[Hekate]

24. Yes

[marybourg]

7. At my age-77- I would take the test.

If positive, I would end all other testing and medication, and hope for an intervening cause of death.

[keithbvadu2]

13. In my volunteer work of driving people, I carried an 86 y/o who was getting Alzheimer's and he knew

In my volunteer work of driving people, I carried an 86 y/o who was getting Alzheimer's and he knew it.
They took his license. He was clear as a bell the day I drove him.

[CDerekGo]

14. To be honest

We ALL are born with an Expiration Date, we ALL just don't know when that Expiration Date is. Whether I'm diagnosed with Alzheimer's or not, I've lived through a major car accident, Cancer, and several other life events. I'm still here, and I DON'T live my life waiting to die. Never have, never will. I'm happy I woke up this morning!

[Duppers]

16. 👏 👍👍

My only concern is planning for my care. I'm also happy to be here.

[misanthrope]

21. Bravo, sir!

That's a refreshing perspective. If only it were more common.

[barbtries]

19. i think it's a 2 edged sword.

my sister got the diagnosis early. she has some verbal symptoms but is otherwise totally competent and functional. But it took over her mind. it kind of took over all of our minds. it's like a looming monster. this could go on for years. I told my kids if i get it I'd just as soon find out later, because this is miserable. My sister is sorry that she did. I would go for it if there were definitely effective early treatments, which i'm sure will develop over the coming years. In the meantime keep me ignorant if I do have it, because I have things to do and don't need that shadow over my life.

[Edim]

25. Regarding therapy:

https://universityhealthnews.com/daily/memory/ketogenic-diet-shows-promising-results-for-all-dementia-stages/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5411330/

[FM123]

26. Taking the blood test to find out is a personal decision for each individual

I don't think that there is a right or wrong answer to that. For me, I think I would want to know so if there were legal or financial preparations that had to taken to make sure my kids and family would be alright after I was "gone" I could do it while my brain was still functioning well enough to do it.