The Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for around 70 percent of all Dementia cases. People who suffer from this disease have an expectancy of life of around three to nine years, after being diagnosed. A recent study claims that some bio-makers may be an indication of an early onset of the Alzheimer’s disease, long before any symptoms begin to appear.
In some cases, it looks like the disease is doing its job in a person’s mind, however it may take years for any actual symptoms to form and begin to appear.
Researchers at the Indiana University said that the most recognizable genetic variant linked to the disease could be multiplying plaque accumulations on a person’s brain way before any symptoms of Alzheimer’s can be identified through the use of tests.
The new research focuses more on ‘significant memory concerns’, on older people who have issues recalling memories. For instance, these people may have had problems in the recent months or years but when being exposed to standard memory and cognition tests they would be categorized within the normal ranges. Scientists classified the people under this category as being ‘subjective cognitive decline group’.
Andrew J. Saykin, Psy.D and Shannon L. Risacher, the authors of the study, have analyzed the data gathered from around 600 ADNI candidates and distinguished those with the APOE e4 gene. Scientists found pathologies the same as Alzheimer’s with the help of numerous biomarkers in the carriers of the APOE e4 gene within the ‘significant memory group’ which also included high levels of the amyloid plaque. The amyloid plaque is the mass of fragments of protein which are regularly seen in the brain tissue of people suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists came to the conclusion that a damaged level of protein in the cerebrospinal fluid shows that the protein was actually being used inside the brain as part of the developing process of the plaque. A higher level of tau, a different protein also connecting to Alzheimer’s, was also spotted in the cerebrospinal fluid. But despite this, the study didn’t discover any real proof of brain structures atrophy or reduced levels of glucose metabolism which are known to be connected to the later phases of the development of Alzheimer’s.
Risacher believes that there is great room for more research among people who are at a very high risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The study was published in the Alzheimer’s and Dementia journal.
Image Source: alzheimersnewstoday.com
