Two new studies on dementia will be conducted in England. The first project will be led by scientists from the Dementia Research Center at University College London, and the second by a team from the Dementias Platform UK research group. Both teams will look for traces of toxic proteins that accumulate in the brains of dementia patients in simple blood samples.
One of the biggest obstacles to developing effective treatments for dementia is the difficulty of diagnosing the disease at an early stage. The truth is that changes in the brain caused by dementia begin decades before symptoms appear. Blood tests can help with early diagnosis of this disease.
The second big problem for doctors is determining the type of dementia the patient has. Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, and other conditions can cause similar symptoms.
New research will look at blood samples to look for proteins associated with dementia. Samples for experiments will be collected in the same way as existing blood tests.
The new trial will involve 3,000 participants from diverse backgrounds across the UK donating blood. This increases the likelihood that the tests developed will work in people of all backgrounds.
A team from University College London will focus on a promising blood test specific to Alzheimer’s disease. Using this it will be possible to detect a protein called pTau217. Various studies conducted worldwide have provided convincing evidence that this test is as accurate as lumbar puncture.
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Source: Ferra
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