Blood Test May Predict Alzheimer’s Progression

A team of scientists, led by Johns Hopkins researchers, say they may have found a way to predict how quickly patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will lose cognitive function by looking at ratios of two fatty compounds in their blood.

The finding, they say, could provide useful information to families and caregivers, and might also suggest treatment targets for this incurable neurodegenerative disorder.

Past research has shown that cognitive function declines at different rates in AD patients, with roughly one-third not declining at all in five years, one-third declining at a moderate rate, and the other third declining quickly. Accurately predicting the pace of cognitive decline would help patients and caregivers better prepare and, if treatments are developed, help doctors aggressively target those whose descent into dementia is likely to be accelerated.

No effective treatments

Currently there are no predictably effective treatments that prevent, slow or stop AD, though the researchers caution that more studies need to be done before their blood fat test proves its value. 

“We’re confident there’s a relationship between these lipids and AD progression, but this work is not yet ready to be used clinically,” said Michelle Mielke, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and lead author of an article about the work published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Though much research has been done to find ways to halt Alzheimer’s, so far the only approved therapy treats symptoms of cognitive decline in some patients for a short period of time. It does nothing to alter the course of the disease. 

“And none of the other compounds in clinical trials to date are showing any benefits,” says Mielke, who is also an associate consultant in the division of epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic. “Perhaps we need to shift our focus. The answers could be in these lipids, which can be measured in the blood.”