A new biomarker of senile dementia

Elena Subbotina, Rossiyskaya Gazeta 

In order to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease, doctors today have to conduct many tests that check the memory and cognitive functions of patients, as well as perform expensive brain scanning procedures.

It is possible that in the future all this can be simplified thanks to a new discovery made by scientists at Tel Aviv University. Researchers have discovered a new biomarker of cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease – the protein ADNP (activity-dependent neuroprotective protein), the levels of which can be easily tracked using a conventional blood test.

"We have identified a clear link between ADNP levels in the blood and amyloid plaques (a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease) in the brain," Israeli scientists said (in a press release, American Friends of Tel Aviv University Research Discovers Neuroprotective Protein in Blood is a Biomarker of Alzheimer's Disease – VM). According to their data, protein levels also correlated with IQ.

During the study, scientists analyzed blood samples from 42 healthy people, patients with moderate cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The results showed that patients with dementia had a significant increase in ADNP RNA levels. In the future, scientists plan to continue the study.

The results of the scientific work are published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (Malishkevich et al., Blood-Borne Activity-Dependent Neuroprotective Protein (ADNP) is Correlated with Premorbid Intelligence, Clinical Stage, and Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers –VM).

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