Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Present Years Before Diagnosis

Irregular levels of autolysomsomal proteins—believed to be involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease—are present in blood samples taken from individuals with the condition years before they begin to show symptoms, according to a recent study.

To investigate the potential of utilizing these proteins as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s, researchers analyzed blood exosomes taken from patients with the disease after diagnosis and compared them to samples taken years before diagnosis, or against controls.
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Overall, researchers found that levels of cathepsin D, lysosome-associated membrane protein 1, and ubiquitinylated protein were significantly higher in patients with Alzheimer’s than in controls, even in blood samples taken up to 10 years before Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

“These preliminary results confirm in living patients with AD the early appearance of neuronal lysosomal dysfunction and suggest that these proteins may be useful biomarkers in large prospective studies,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Goetzi EJ, Boxer A, Schwartz JB, et al. Altered lysosomal proteins in neural-derived plasma exosomes in preclinical Alzheimer disease. Neurology. June 2015 [epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001702