The test identifies eighteen proteins (what are called biomarkers) within the blood that are critical in determining a person’s chances of getting Alzheimer’s. Currently, a series of tests is used to indicate the disease and, in the end, it is usually decided by the opinion of the attending physician. Only after the patient has died can a surgical team examine tangled brain tissue to look for the key proteins that identify the disease.

The result was published online on October, 15, 2007, within the journal Nature Medicine. A co-author of the report is Sandip Ray.

If this test is confirmed by further studies, it could eventually result in a blood test to diagnose the disease before patients actually get Alzheimer’s disease. Drugs could then be given to these people, which would not prevent the disease but help to dramatically slow down its devastating effects.

The Stanford team looked at 259 samples of blood from people having Alzheimer’s and healthy people. One hundred twenty proteins were investigated that could possibly affect brain cells. Eighteen proteins showed agreement with independent assessment of whether the subjects had or did not have Alzheimer’s.

Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (University of California, San Francisco), said of the study, which he did not participate in, "I really think it has enormous potential. Most researchers in this field agree that there is an urgent need for better lab tests for Alzheimer's disease, and this study has addressed this need admirably."

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