Biomarkers , those substances used as indicators of a specific biological state, can be found at the molecular, biochemical or cellular level and are increasingly helping us to improve current medicine and with it our health. The latest in these biomarkers is the ability to predict whether a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease in the next three years. This pioneering work has been published in the journal Nature Medicine .
Those responsible for this discovery have been a group of researchers from the Georgetown University Medical Center, in Washington (USA) who affirm that thanks to this new test they could even find an effective treatment with which to stop the disease (which affects around 35.6 million people in the world) and even prevent it .
The research is based on a biological marker found in the blood that would reveal with 90% accuracy whether that person can develop mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease three years before the onset of symptoms . This is the first time that the existence of blood biomarkers with a tendency to Alzheimer’s has been detected. The test itself identifies ten lipids or fats in the blood that appear to reveal the breakdown of neuronal cell membranes in anticipation of the onset of the disease.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2050 there could be 115 million people with Alzheimer’s, so detecting the disease before symptoms have even appeared, can lead to the identification of individuals at risk in order to application and development of effective therapies for them.
