A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic in the United States has created a tool that predicts the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s years before the symptoms associated with this disease appear.
The research, published in The Lancet Neurologyis based on data from 5,858 participants collected over decades within the framework of the aforementioned clinic’s program for the study of aging in Minnesota, one of the most complete population-based follow-ups of brain health in the world.
Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the alteration of two key proteins in the brain: amyloid, which forms plaques, and tau, which forms tangles. Medications against this disease manage to eliminate amyloid from the brain and can slow the progression of the disease in people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
The disease prediction tool has combined data such as age, sex, genetic risk associated with the APoE ε4 genotype and levels of brain amyloid protein detected in a test called PET tomography. The presence of the ApoE gene with the ε4 allele is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
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From this data, researchers have calculated the probability that a person will develop MCI or dementia within ten years or throughout their life.
MCI represents a kind of transition stage between healthy aging and dementia. It often affects quality of life but still allows people to live independently.
Current Alzheimer’s medications are aimed at this stage, which slow but do not stop the progression of the disease.
Advance treatment
Of all the predictors evaluated, brain amyloid levels detected on PET scans had the greatest influence on the lifetime risk of MCI and dementia.
Meanwhile, men and women with the common APoE genetic variant with the ε4 allele also have a higher risk throughout life.
The study revealed that women have a higher risk than men of developing dementia and MCI.
“The good thing about this new tool is that it will allow us to look for Alzheimer’s earlier, before symptoms begin, and that can help doctors and patients start treatment earlier or make lifestyle changes to slow down symptoms,” says one of the authors of the study, Clifford Jack, from the Mayo Clinic.
Although at the moment the new tool is only used at the research level, “it represents an important step towards more personalized care,” Clifford emphasizes.
“Ultimately, our goal is to give people more time—time to plan, act, and live well before memory problems take hold,” says Ronald Petersen, a neurologist and director of the Mayo Clinic Aging Study.
With information from EFE
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