PHILADELPHIA, March 18 (UPI) -- U.S. pathologists say they have developed a biomarker diagnostic test that can confirm or rule out Alzheimer's disease.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers said their test is also capable of predicting conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.
By measuring cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of two of the disease's biochemical hallmarks -- amyloid beta42 peptide and tau protein -- the test also predicts whether a person's mild cognitive impairment will convert to Alzheimer's disease over time, the researchers said.
The test allows scientists to detect Alzheimer's disease at the earliest stages, before dementia symptoms appear and widespread irreversible damage occurs. The scientists said their findings hold promise in the search for effective pharmaceutical therapies capable of halting the disease.
"Validated biomarker tests will improve the focus of Alzheimer's clinical trials, enrolling patients at earlier stages of the disease to find treatments that can at least delay -- and perhaps stop -- neurodegeneration," said Leslie Shaw, director of the university's Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, who led the study.
Shaw said additional work is needed to develop biomarkers, as well as identify more genetic risk factors that will help distinguish Alzheimer's from other neurodegenerative diseases characterized by cognitive impairments.
The study appears in the online edition of the journal Annals of Neurology.
