Alzheimer’s disease is a public health epidemic with a large and rapidly growing burden that bears significant impact on the society. The individual suffering is great, the costs for the society are substantial, and we still lack effective treatments. Significant advances in the last decade have shown that Positron emission tomography (PET) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) measures of amyloid can identify individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease decades before clinical onset.
Current imaging and CSF measurements are considered gold standards for diagnosis of probable AD. However, PET imaging is costly, and it is only available in relatively specialized centers. Therefore, it is unlikely to be part of routine clinical assessment of cognitive complaints before therapies being available. Neither is suitable for population-based screening for identifying high-risk individuals for early intervention before symptom onset. Thus, there is a need to develop more cost-effective and widely accessible biomarkers that can aid AD therapeutic trials in an effective recruitment process. E.g. a blood-based measure that accurately reflects AD pathology.
“Alzheimer’s disease pathology in brain begins to accumulate 15-20 years before onset of clinical symptoms of the disease”, says Nicholas Ashton. “This presents a significant problem in the search for therapeutic intervention that target these pathologies. How do we find individuals at very high risk for such trails when they are seemingly cognitively healthy?”
