What will these new tests bring to bear?
In a recent Clinical Chemistry Q&A, an expert panel including Mari DeMarco, Nicholas Ashton, Andrew Saykin and Louis Jacques, were asked about the potential impacts of the translation of new blood tests for Alzheimer's disease into patient care.
Full published article available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/clinchem/hvae144
Prior to these new blood tests, doctors relied one of the biomarker methods below to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease:
Testing cerebrospinal fluid for protein biomarkers of Alzheimer's, or,
Brain imaging scans called PET scans (using radioactive tracers) that look for the same proteins they look for in cerebrospinal fluid.
While these two methods are highly effective, they have significant drawbacks. They can be expensive (especially brain scans), and aren't widely available. As the expert panel discussed, blood tests would transform this landscape. They would offer a simpler, less invasive option through standard blood draws, making testing more accessible regardless of location or financial means.