BLOOMINGTON – IU School of Medicine researchers are gaining ground on the development of blood tests to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to the World Health Organization, close to 55 million people worldwide are estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. And with disease-modifying therapies becoming available, improving the efficiency of an early diagnosis is critical.
Neurology Professor Jeffrey Dage says blood tests are the best option for affordability and accessibility because they are less costly and invasive than imaging and a lumbar puncture.
Dage is part of a collaborative study with the Mayo Clinic exploring the utility of blood biomarkers that measure levels of phosphorylated tau, or P-tau.
In previous studies, Dage has demonstrated that blood levels of P-tau are indicators of the development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain.
Dage and his collaborators published their most recent study on P-tau in Nature Medicine. The paper represents the first large community-based exploration into the blood tests.
Information: Indiana University Research Impact
