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Australian and Japanese scientists developed and validated a blood test for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, with the potential to massively ramp up the pace of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease drug trials. The blood test measures a specific peptide in the blood to inform scientists, with 90% accuracy, if a patient has the very earliest stages of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.

Blood samples from patients in a large study from the (NCGG) were initially analysed to identify the relevant peptides. Those indicating brain beta-amyloid burden were then tested against patient samples from the (AIBL), to validate the results.

Professor Katsuhiko Yanagisawa, Director-General of the NCGG Research Institute, said: 鈥淥ur study demonstrates the high accuracy, reliability and reproducibility of this blood test, as it was successfully validated in two independent large datasets from Japan and Australia.鈥�

Dr Koichi Tanaka at was instrumental in developing the initial blood testing procedure. Professor Tanaka won the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2002 for the technique. 鈥淔rom a tiny blood sample, our method can measure several amyloid-related proteins, even though their concentration is extremely low. We found that the ratio of these proteins was an accurate surrogate for brain amyloid burden.鈥�

One of the essential hallmarks of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is build-up of abnormal peptide in the brain, called beta-amyloid. The process starts silently about 30 years before outward signs of dementia, like memory loss or cognitive decline, have begun. Current tests for beta-amyloid include brain scans with costly radioactive tracers, or analysing spinal fluid taken via a lumbar puncture. These are expensive and invasive, and generally only available in a research setting. A diagnosis is usually made without these tools, by assessing a patient鈥檚 range of symptoms.

Professor Colin Masters of the , and , has been at the forefront of Alzheimer鈥檚 research since the 1980s. Professor Masters, who co-led the research published in the latest issue of , said, 鈥淭his new test has the potential to eventually disrupt the expensive and invasive scanning and spinal fluid technologies. In the first instance, however, it will be an invaluable tool in increasing the speed of screening potential patients for new drug trials.

鈥淧rogress in developing new therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease has been disappointingly slow. None of the three drugs currently on the market treat the underlying disease. New drugs are urgently required, and the only way to do that is to speed up the whole process. That requires trials with rigorous and economical patient selection, to avoid recruiting patients who may not even have Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Due to the long timespans involved, pharmaceutical companies require accurate predictions of who is most at risk.鈥�

The breakthrough was the result of an extensive international collaboration between industry and academia in both Japan and Australia. The key technology, known as IP-MS, was implemented by Shimadzu Corporation in Japan.

The , , and all contributed to the work. In Australia, the AIBL study on which the test was validated is a partnership between the , , , and .

Key highlights:聽

鈥� For the first time, a few drops of blood can be used to test for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. The results appear in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

鈥� The test performs as well as current tests involving brain scans and lumbar punctures, which are expensive and invasive for the patient.

鈥� The new test is a proxy for abnormal levels of brain beta-amyloid, the 鈥楢lzheimer鈥檚 protein鈥�.

鈥� The test will greatly speed up enrolment for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease clinical trials, lowering a significant barrier to existing drug development which has contributed to the lack of Alzheimer鈥檚 treatments.

鈥� The test is currently only available for research-related purposes.

Image credit: 漏stock.adobe.com/au/Mediteraneo