As reported by The Lighthouse, Macquarie University researchers have found a blood biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease that could provide a time point for early intervention.
The team compared three Alzheimer’s-related brain proteins and found that the most reliable was GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein). The study showed that GFAP blood levels can appear 10 years before symptoms of cognitive decline, giving researchers an opportunity to intervene well before the brain is damaged.
The accuracy of the test increased to 96% when the team factored in age, sex, and genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease. The research, conducted by an international team of 40 scientists from Australia, the US, and Europe, has been published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
