Previously, we reported on the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative which is conducting research into the best current methods to diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease. Today we’ll explore how implementing those ideas will affect the future of AD research and what this means for current and prospective patients.
First, some background on how Alzheimer’s will be diagnosed according to the new guidelines:
The new diagnostic guidelines, presented Tuesday at an international Alzheimer’s meeting in Hawaii, would mean that new technology like brain scans would be used to detect the disease even before there are evident memory problems or other symptoms.
If the guidelines are adopted in the fall, as expected, some experts predict a two- to threefold increase in the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Many more people would be told they probably are on their way to getting it.
The second paragraph is most significant because it suggest both that diagnostic models for Alzheimer’s are getting a lot more sophisticated and the epidemic of Alzheimer’s will be even more severe than it is currently. The general consensus is that there are roughly five million people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. With new and expanded diagnostic measures introduced, this could change how the disease is viewed by the public and medical community. Increased public awareness should increase the amount of money that is given to Alzheimer’s-related projects. At the same time, it could also increase people’s worry about developing the disease.
So this news is at once hopeful and disconcerting – on the one hand, a better diagnostic model for Alzheimer’s is in everyone’s best interest. On the other hand, increasing the rate of diagnosis without increasing the possible treatment options will be troubling to a great many people. Fortunately, increased diagnosis can also potentially lead to better research into treatment:
The changes could also help drug companies that are, for the first time, developing new drugs to try to attack the disease earlier. So far, there are no drugs that alter the course of the disease.
That said, given that there is no fully effective biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, the potential for misdiagnosis is still possible. Though the new guidelines may suggest that a full diagnostic model has been achieved, there is still a potential for false positives. There is an argument to be made that these guidelines could cause problems as well. For instance:
The biomarkers were developed and tested only recently and none have been formally approved for Alzheimer’s diagnosis. One of the newest, a PET scan, shows plaque in the brain — a unique sign of Alzheimer’s brain pathology.
Yet the relationship between amyloid plaque and Alzheimer’s is not fully understood. It is widely considered to be a vital factor, but there are still open questions. For example, there have been cases where a person with increased amyloid plaque did not develop Alzheimer’s disease – hence the potential problem with false positives. The goal is to strengthen the effectiveness of these guidelines.
The Effect on biOasis’s Research
Bioasis’s goal is to create an airtight biomarker with limited false positives. Additionally, biOasis does research on ways to develop medication that can cross the threshold of the blood brain barrier. So the research is two-fold – both diagnosis and treatment. Could a biOasis biomarker one day be part of these new guidelines? That is, of course, the hope, and as these guidelines suggest, the Alzheimer’s research community has made progress in diagnosing and treating the disease, but there is much work left to be done. As these guidelines will increase the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, new biomarkers and treatment are more important than ever.
More about biOasis’s research can be found here.
