Towards Reliable, Low-Cost Tests for the Earliest Stages of Alzheimer ' s Disease

The research community has moved quite determinedly these past few years towards practical, low-cost tests for early Alzheimer's disease. Even with the limited means available to patients today, an early warning might be used to delay the aggregation of amyloid-β that takes place in the initial stages of the condition, before the appearance of cognitive impairment. Lifestyle changes such as weight loss and improved fitness, antiviral therapies, and control of chronic inflammation should all make some difference, given what is known of the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease. Looking ahead, better options may soon be available. Senolytics, for example, may make a difference. Further, as means of directly reducing amyloid-β levels in the aging brain are starting to emerge, finally, these therapies might be better applied in the early stages of the condition, rather than later, when the disease process is beyond their ability to control. Early treatment through the clinical community requires some form of early diagnosis - so early treatment is very dependent on the existence of standard, widely accepted tests that can be readily and cheaply applied. While it is certainly possible to assess amyloid-β in cerebrospinal fluid, and has been for many years, that requires a lumbar puncture. It is expensive, painful, and certainly not the sort of thing people would willingly undergo once a year. Today's selection of research results from recent months covers a number of lines o...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs