All articles tagged with #blood biomarker
A Mass General Brigham-led study shows a blood test measuring pTau217 can predict Alzheimer's risk years before symptoms appear, potentially enabling earlier, less invasive screening than PET scans; while promising, more research is needed to validate across diverse populations and translate these findings into clinical practice.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered that the progression of Alzheimer's disease is influenced by astrocytes, star-shaped brain cells, in addition to amyloid aggregates. By testing the blood of over 1,000 cognitively unimpaired elderly individuals, the study found that those with a combination of amyloid burden and blood markers of abnormal astrocyte activation were more likely to develop symptomatic Alzheimer's in the future. This breakthrough challenges the belief that amyloid alone triggers the disease and highlights the importance of considering astrocyte reactivity as a biomarker for early diagnosis and drug development.