Skin test 'detects Alzheimer's'
2004-12-14 14:45
Sydney - Australian researchers said on Tuesday they had developed a new skin test which can identify potential victims of Alzheimer's disease early.
"For researchers, there are difficulties trialling new medications because you're never absolutely sure your subjects have the condition," said researcher Zeinab Khalil of the National Ageing Research Institute.
"We think we've found the holy grail of an early Alzheimer's test."
In patients with the degenerative disease, a material called amyloid builds up around nerve cells and appears to interfere with their functions, disrupting the supply of oxygen through tiny blood vessels.
The researchers, attached to the University of Melbourne, found this kind of damage to the blood vessels could also be found on the skin.
"What we found is that the skin test was very good at identifying people with early Alzheimer's disease and, indeed, elderly people with mild memory impairment who are at risk of developing dementia a few years later," Khalil said.
"This test has been in the making since 1992. That was over five years ago and in that time we've shown that the results are reliable and repeatable."
Alzheimer's is believed to be caused by plaques and tangles of protein that destroy brain cells, causing symptoms that start with mild memory loss, progresses to dementia with the need for 24-hour care, and ultimately death.
According to some estimates, one in 10 Americans over the age of 65, and half of Americans aged 85 or more, have the disease.