Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, which can be measured by a simple blood test, will revolutionise the way Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, making it simpler, quicker and less invasive. Today, lumbar puncture is often required to analyse cerebrospinal fluid.
The validity of blood biomarkers is well established. But before they can be used in routine clinical practice, we still need to be sure of their performance in a context that is less controlled than that of research.
In practice, when substances present in very low concentrations in the blood have to be measured, numerous factors, such as delays in delivery to the laboratory or changes in the batch of the assay kit, can degrade the test’s performance.
Sylvain Lehmann and Audrey Gabelle of The Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier CHU de Montpellier, whose aim is to confirm that these assays can in fact become a very useful and reliable tool in everyday clinical practice.
This study, involving the Montpellier, Nîmes and Perpignan memory centres, will include 342 subjects who have undergone a diagnostic analysis of Alzheimer’s disease markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The performance of blood measurements will be compared with that of CSF measurements.
Duration of the study: 10 months
Amount funded by the Alzheimer’s Research Foundation: €99,000
Soon a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease
