Expansion
Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly can be identified by blood test. The Department of Biophysics, AIIMS in collaboration with the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Neurology has discovered a diagnostic blood protein for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
With the help of this, it will be known whether the elderly have Alzheimer’s disease or not. If it is about to start, then its symptoms will also be known from this test. For this research, AIIMS selected more than 100 elderly people coming to the Department of Geriatric Medicine.
During the research period of about three years, their blood samples were taken and tested. During the investigation, a new protein called sirtuin has been identified in the blood of Alzheimer’s disease, which gradually decreases in the patient over time and damages the body.
In this test, with the help of sirtuin protein, Alzheimer’s disease could be identified. In this regard, Professor Dr. Sharmistha Dey, Department of Biophysics, AIIMS said that this research will provide relief to lakhs of elderly people in the country. Until now, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s has been made by examining the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF test), which gives results after a long delay.
Used it in new method
The method of diagnosing Alzheimer’s from blood tests has been used to investigate several biological molecules that play a role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease. This may be the reason for Alzheimer’s. Identifying protein markers in the blood can be more beneficial than the CFF test. Blood can be easily drawn from an elderly patient. Whereas for CSF, it is very difficult to take fluid from the spinal cord of elderly patients.
Delayed treatment becomes difficult
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most under-diagnosed geriatric syndromes in India. It is important to get caught early for its treatment. In this disease, the memory of the elderly becomes weak. At the same time, the ability to work the brain decreases. For the treatment of the disease, it is necessary to catch it in the initial stage. Currently available technology detects the disease with the help of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. It measures total-tau, phospho-tau, and 42 amino acids of β-amyloid (A beta 42) to detect Alzheimer’s disease.