A new test has been developed that measures amyloid-beta oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid, promising a reliable means of early diagnosis. In a comparison of patients with Alzheimer’s, patients with MCI that later developed into Alzheimer’s, and controls, levels of these protein fragments directly correlated with Alzheimer’s, and was more accurate than levels of the more usual amyloid plaques.
New test to diagnose early stage Alzheimer's disease
Reference
Fukumoto, H., Tokuda, T., Kasai, T., Ishigami, N., Hidaka, H., Kondo, M., … Nakagawa, M. (2010). High-molecular-weight {beta}-amyloid oligomers are elevated in cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer patients. FASEB J., fj.09-150359 . Retrieved from http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.09-150359v1