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Post by alice on Aug 11, 2020 10:10:16 GMT -5
Super-Accurate Blood Tests Several new blood tests are in development that may spot markers for Alzheimer’s up to a decade before symptoms appear. One test looks at fats in the bloodstream, and another looks at proteins—in trials, both were able to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s within 1 to 3 years with up to 90% accuracy. But the newest blood test looks at a brain protein called IRS-1, which plays a role in insulin signaling in the brain and is commonly defective in people with the disease. Researchers from the National Institute on Aging gathered samples from 174 people with Alzheimer’s, along with 20 people who had diabetes and a group of 84 healthy people. Those with Alzheimer’s had higher amounts of the inactive form of IRS-1 and lower amounts of the active form than those adults who were healthy. The blood test is still in development, but the researchers said the results were so clear-cut, they predict it will eventually be able to diagnose early Alzheimer’s with 100 percent accuracy.
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