Sunday, February 7, 2021

ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #12: A Blood Test For Alzheimer’s BEFORE THE SYMPTOMS APPEAR!?!?!?!

From the first moment I discovered my dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it seemed like I was alone in this ugly place. Even ones who had loved ones suffering in this way; even though people TALKED about the disease, it felt for me like they did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Alzheimer’s research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: Blood Tests and Alzheimer’s…an advance!


In August of 2019, I wrote that there seemed to be evidence suggesting a simple blood test could indicate Alzheimer’s Disease in a person who had NO SYMPTOMS… (https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2019/08/alzheimers-research-right-now-3-what-do.html)

Well, it seems the day has arrived! Researchers in Germany had this to say: “An accessible, affordable, and minimally invasive biomarker for Alzheimer's disease would revolutionize care of patients worldwide, as well as boost the development of novel drugs for this presently still incurable disease.”

They were fairly sure that they’d discovered the biomarker in 2019, but recent developments had given solid evidence that they have, indeed made what us normal people would call a breakthrough. It seems that, two years later, the test is here!

“After decades of research, we now know that Alzheimer's disease-related memory problems are just the tip of the iceberg of underlying degenerative processes in the brain that have been silently developing over years or even decades…Until recently, it was only possible to detect these protein aggregates in the brains of deceased patients at autopsy.”

Fat lotta good THAT does us!

Last year, researchers discovered a specific biomarker related to Alzheimer’s called a “phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau181)”.

OK…sorta cool…but WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN?!?!?!?

Let me do what I do best: break it down into English so normal people can understand the medical “blah, blah, blah”. First, what’s a “biomarker”?

Apparently, biomarkers are also used in cancer research! According to cancer.gov: it’s a “…molecule found in blood, or in other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease.”

What are some “biomarkers” us normal people would be familiar with? When you get a sample of “poop” and send it in the little container to the doctor to see if you can skip the colonoscopy this year – that’s giving your doctor a biomarker.

Lately, the biomarkers that are on everyone’s mind – and in their nose, spit, blood, and (ewww…butts!: https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/anal-swabs-coronavirus) – are the antibodies formed in your body that prove that you are positive or negative for COVID-19.

If you’re diabetic, checking your blood sugars or your A1c are both sampling biomarkers.

Researchers have discovered a new biomarker that will let them detect Alzheimer’s Disease before you start suffering the ravages. What is this “phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau181)” and how does it get into your blood and how can it tell them if you (I imagine) test positive for Alzheimer’s Disease?

Up until this study, the only way to see the p-tau81 was under a PET scan – which is expensive to do, and there are a very limited number of PET scanners available, primarily in large cities with a heavy investment in cutting edge medical technology. Basically, it’s a big molecule called a “tau protein” that we find in microscopic tubes of the nerves in our brains. It’s job is to stabilize the neurons so that they can do their best job: carrying signals into and out of the brain.

When there’s brain damage – like a traumatic brain injury, those proteins increase and can be seen in the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord (you’ve heard of a spinal tap – the tap removes a bit of the fluid in the spine to test for diseases). The tau proteins are “attacked” in an process where a phosphorus molecule with three oxygens clamps on to it through another molecule called an enzyme (enzymes are what’s in your spit. They get mixed with food to start breaking it down even before it gets to your stomach!) These phosphoryl groups cause the tau proteins to get tangled up with each other. It’s currently understood that these “tau tangles” are part of a process that destroys memory and recall in the brain.

That’s not ALL that causes Alzheimer’s, but these tau tangles are a major component. The blood test will allow doctors to find the tau proteins with their phosphoryl groups LONG before they start to cause serious damage to the brain.

According to the journal article linked below, “In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, tau is abnormally phosphorylated and aggregated into bundles of filaments.”

That was cool enough, but then they developed “a cheap blood test capable of detecting the presence of phosphorylated tau protein – knowing that it is a defining hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease.” They can then inform the patient that there will likely be a problem in the future.

Besides traumatic brain injury, what CAUSES the phosphorylation of the tau proteins in the microtubules of the nerves of the brain?

No one knows, just as no one knows why some people experience the degeneration of Alzheimer’s starting when they’re 78 years old; and others become the President of the United States.

There is no current TREATMENT for destroying these p-tau81 proteins, and of course the problem will STILL be admitting it to yourself and your loved ones that Alzheimer’s Disease looms darkly in your or their future.

Resources: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210113100824.htm, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2774467
Image: https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/fileadmin/_processed_/e/1/csm_shutterstock_142671010_4683b6bf13.jpg

No comments:

Post a Comment