Forbes.com reports that researchers are working on a skin test that might help with early detection of Alzheimer's disease.
The test zeroes in on two forms of an enzyme involved in the degradation of amyloid, the protein that accumulates in the brain of someone with Alzheimer's, said Alkon, scientific director of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center.
The presence of Alzheimer's disease is indicated by a steep imbalance in the ratio of the two forms of the enzyme, MAP kinase Erk, in skin cells that are exposed to bradykinin, an inflammation-related molecule, Alkon said. That imbalance is not seen in cells of people without dementia or those with other forms of dementia, he said.
The test produced good results when run on 60 tissue samples: 30 from a tissue bank, 30 from autopsy samples of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Alkon said.
"We have seen a correlation with the duration of the disease," he said. "The earlier it is done in the course of the disease, the larger is the abnormality."
The skin test is still far from being reader but the article does say they are ready to expand to a large test of 1,000 people. So, we now have the skin test that medical experts are working as well as the alzheimer's eye tests we mentioned last month.
