New biomarker shows Alzheimer's disease long before symptoms

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the cerebrospinal fluid has found that both symptomatic Alzheimer’s patients and asymptomatic patients at risk of Alzheimer’s showed a significant decrease in levels of circulating cell-free mtDNA in the CSF. Patients with frontotemporal dementia did not display this.

Moreover, this potential biomarker occurred at least a decade before signs of dementia manifested, preceding the appearance of amyloid-beta and tau — suggesting not simply that it might be used as a very early sign of developing Alzheimer’s, but that the pathological process of Alzheimer's disease starts earlier than previously thought.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/cg-nbc081213.php

[3598] Podlesniy, P., Figueiro-Silva J., Llado A., Antonell A., Sanchez-Valle R., Alcolea D., et al.
(2013).  Low cerebrospinal fluid concentration of mitochondrial DNA in preclinical Alzheimer disease.
Annals of Neurology. 74(5), 655 - 668.

Related News

Here’s a different aspect to

More findings from the long-running Mayo Clinic Study of Aging reveal that using a computer plus taking moderate exercise reduces your risk of mild cognitive impairment significantly more than you would expect from simply adding together these two beneficial activities.

The study involved 4,134 people (average age 59) who worked at the French national gas and electric company, of whom most worked at the company for their entire career.

I’ve mentioned before that, for some few people, exercise doesn’t seem to have a benefit, and the benefits of exercise for fighting age-related cognitive decline may not apply to those carrying the Alzheimer’s gene.

Data from the Women's Health Study, involving 6,183 older women (65+), has found that it isn’t the amount of fat but the type of fat that is associated with cognitive decline.

Interpreting brain activity is a very tricky business. Even the most basic difference can be interpreted in two ways — i.e., what does it mean if a region is more active in one group of people compared to another?

Damage to the retina (retinopathy) doesn’t produce noticeable symptoms in the early stages, but a new study indicates it may be a symptom of more widespread damage. In the ten-year study, involving 511 older women (average age 69), 7.6% (39) were found to have retinopathy.

Older adults who sleep poorly react to stress with increased inflammation

Data from the very large and long-running Cognitive Function and Ageing Study, a U.K. study involving 13,004 older adults (65+), from which 329 brains are now available for analysis, has found that cognitive lifestyle score (CLS) had no effect on Alzheimer’s pathology.

Previous research has been equivocal about whether cognitive training helps cognitively healthy older adults.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news