High performance plasma amyloid-β biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, Nakamura et al, 2018

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To facilitate clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, which are expected to be most efficacious at the earliest and mildest stages of the disease1,2, supportive biomarker information is necessary. The only validated methods for identifying amyloid-β deposition in the brain—the earliest pathological signature of Alzheimer’s disease—are amyloid-β positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging or measurement of amyloid-β in cerebrospinal fluid. Therefore, a minimally invasive, cost-effective blood-based biomarker is desirable3,4. Despite much effort3,4,5,6,7, to our knowledge, no study has validated the clinical utility of blood-based amyloid-β markers. Here we demonstrate the measurement of high-performance plasma amyloid-β biomarkers by immunoprecipitation coupled with mass spectrometry.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25456

There is a brief summary of the findings on the BBC news site,

Scientists in Japan and Australia have developed a blood test that can detect the build-up of toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The work, published in the journal Nature , is an important step towards a blood test for dementia.

The test was 90% accurate when trialled on healthy people, those with memory loss and Alzheimer's patients.

Experts said the approach was at an early stage and needed further testing, but was still very promising.

'Major implications'
The new approach, a collaboration among universities in Japan and Australia, looks for fragments of amyloid that end up in the blood stream.

By assessing the ratios of types of amyloid fragment, the researchers could accurately predict levels of amyloid beta in the brain.

Significantly, the study shows it is possible to look in the blood to see what is happening in the brain.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42878721