Blood Marker Could Point to Alzheimer's Risk

TUESDAY, May 29 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have zeroed in on blood biomarkers that could someday help doctors predict who's at risk for Alzheimer's disease. They might even help guide treatment, the U.S. researchers added.

These biomarkers, called cytokines, are all hallmarks of heightened inflammatory responses. Cytokines specific to Alzheimer's disease were found in greater numbers on white blood cells called mononuclear cells.

Higher concentrations of inflammatory markers in the blood have been linked to Alzheimer's disease before. But other conditions of old age, such as heart disease and arthritis, can also trigger inflammation, the researchers pointed out.

However, the newly discovered markers point specifically at Alzheimer's disease-linked inflammation in the brain, the scientists said.

That's important, because right now "there's no single blood test or neuroimaging study -- CT scan or MRI -- that can reliably predict whether somebody has Alzheimer's disease, much less whether someone is at risk of developing the illness," explained lead researcher Dr. Zaldy Tan, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston.

"So, if this finding is validated in other studies and larger samples, it might become a test for future risk of Alzheimer's disease," he said.

There are currently no effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease, which now affects more than 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Scientists project that unless new ways are found to prevent or treat the disease, that total could climb to 16 million by mid-century.

The exact role of inflammatory processes in Alzheimer's remains a mystery, although numerous studies support the notion that they are at least associated with the mind-robbing illness.

"The data has been conflicting," Tan said. "Most of the studies out there are population-based, looking at the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, for example, on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease." Those studies have found no good evidence that taking steroids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (for example, aspirin or ibuprofen) cuts Alzheimer's risk.

Tougher still has been the search for a blood marker that might precisely indicate the presence of, or risk for, Alzheimer's disease in a particular patient.

A number of studies with elderly patients have correlated a high number of cytokines in red blood cells with Alzheimer's, but "since this population is significantly older, there are other reasons someone might have inflammation -- arthritis, for example," Tan said.

The new study, published in the May 29 issue ofNeurology, focused on a particular type of white blood cell, the mononuclear cell. Tan's team focused on these cells because they have the ability -- unlike many other cells -- to cross the blood-brain barrier.