A lot of studies have been made into Alzheimer's as a neurodegenerative disease, with causative factors and treatment options taking the center-place in most of these studies, but the new discovery that it starts much earlier than it begins to show casts a new light on the neuro-disease altogether.
Dr. Risacher feels that there is ample room for further research amongst patients who are at a high risk of Alzheimer's disease. Washington University School of Medicine carried out an extensive study on 6 July and startling facts about biomarkers have been revealed by the study with regard to patients suffering from Alzheimer's. The condition gradually destroys the part of the brain that controls thought, memory and language.
The research was conducted on 169 healthy research volunteers and were studied for data for a over a decade. Each one of these people were clinically tested, and their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was subjected to biomarker analysis and evaluation after every three years.
Amyloid plaques: clumps of amyloid protein in the brain that can be seen with amyloid PET scans - a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
According to researchers from Indiana University, the most recognized genetic variant that is linked to Alzheimer's disease might be supporting accumulations of plaque in the brain way earlier than any of the symptoms of the disease that can be gauged through tests.
Memory slips do not occur all at once, but when it becomes progressive over the months and the years in older adults, then one must suspect Alzheimer's disease has been there - undiagnosed, over the years. The associated changes in the biomarkers were recorded.
They also found that cerebrospinal levels of tau and other markers of brain-cell injury rose sharply in some participants as they reached their mid-50s to their mid-70s and YKL-40 levels rose across the age groups.
The National Institutes of Health, the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the Fred Simmons and Olga Mohan Fund, and Eli Lilly and Co funded the work.
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