A study carried out by the biotechnology company Resonant, based in the state of Utah, in the United States, points to the effectiveness of a new type of blood test capable of identifying Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
According to the company, this diagnostic method allows early tracking of the disease, before the first symptoms appear.
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The method applied in the study and how the exam works
In its research, Resonant collected blood plasma samples from 50 volunteers. Of them, 25 were elderly and 13 were people of varying ages who had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
The group was completed with six individuals suffering from some degree of cognitive impairment who tend to have Alzheimer's and another six who had some milder impairment.
When analyzing plasma samples from these patients, experts observed that those who were predisposed to developing Alzheimer's showed a different sign than the others.
According to researchers, these people's neurons release high amounts of DNA when they are deactivated. Chad Pollard, co-founder of Resonant, explains that this is not normal.
“Under normal, healthy conditions, cfDNA from neurons is undetectable in the blood circulation, but during neurodegeneration and development of breast cancer, the amount of cfDNA that is released from these cells increases significantly and can be detected in the blood.”, he said.
Still according to Chad Pollard, his company's objective is to extend the scope of the new test to detection of other serious neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (SHE).
The weaknesses and potential presented by the study
The early diagnosis method presented by Resonant is really interesting, but it shows some flaws.
Chad Pollard points out one of the inconsistencies he and his team tracked. “While most patients with mild cognitive impairment who have not developed Alzheimer’s had low levels of cfDNA from neurons in the blood, some had high levels,” He explained.
Despite everything, Joseph Antoun, CEO of the nutritional technology company Prolon, was excited about the new possibility of early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.
“Although the sample size for the study is relatively low, with just 50 participants, this method of measuring DNA methylation shows interesting potential,” he opined. “I would love to see it done on a larger scale, with a larger population size and with other neurodegenerative disorders,” he admitted.
The test will be launched in 2024
If everything goes as expected by Resonant, the blood test that indicates the presence of Alzheimer's at an early stage will reach North American laboratories in the first quarter of next year.
According to the company itself and the American association that looks after the interests of people with Alzheimer's disease and its relatives, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the final phase of testing the new product.
Until then, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases only begin to be investigated when the first signs of neurological decline appear.
However, with technologies like the one proposed by Resonant, even pre-symptomatic interventions may be possible, according to Timothy Jenkins, another co-founder of the company.
“These data [collected in the test study] demonstrate significant potential for using this technology as a a clinically actionable predictor of neurodegeneration, which could enable pre-symptomatic interventions,” said he.
“We believe this early identification is key to improving outcomes for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.”, he concluded.
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