24 Oct Alzheimer’s blood test validated with help from UW–Madison data
By Mary Bosch, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
The first blood plasma test to identify hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease was cleared in May by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and University of Wisconsin researchers provided a portion of the samples used in the clinical validation test.
The blood test measures concentrations of two Alzheimer’s disease–related biomarkers, tau and amyloid, in plasma and calculates their ratio. Clinicians are interested in early and accurate diagnosis because currently available therapies are most effective in the early stages of the disease. Amyloid begins to accumulate and form toxic plaques in the brain approximately 20 years before symptoms of cognitive impairment. Tau accumulates later, forming tangles in the brain that damage nerve cells and are more closely associated with the memory loss and cognitive decline in later stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more…