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New Alzheimer’s blood test may determine who is at risk of dementia: 'Could be game changer'

A blood test may help identify individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s before they show any signs of the disease, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine.

The blood test looks at the activity of star-shaped brain cells in the blood called astrocytes, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Only patients whose brains showed a combination of “abnormally reactive” astrocytes and high accumulations of amyloid — one of the proteins that is linked to Alzheimer’s — went on to develop cognitive symptoms of the disease, per the study findings.

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Brain scientists believed for decades that one telltale sign of the disease — and a possible direct culprit — was an accumulation of amyloid plaques and concentrations of protein fibers called “tau tangles,” according to the University of Pittsburgh’s press release. 

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Researchers have been puzzled, however, by a significant share of individuals whose brains appear to be “chock-full of toxic amyloid aggregates” yet never go on to develop Alzheimer’s-associated dementias. 

“Our study argues that testing for the presence of brain amyloid along with blood biomarkers of astrocyte reactivity is the optimal screening to identify patients who are most at risk for progressing to Alzheimer’s disease,” Pascoal said in the release.

Blood test results could be a ‘game changer’

During the study, researchers tested the blood of more than 1,000 cognitively unimpaired elderly people with and without signs of amyloid in the brain.

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Nearly two years ago, Pascoal and his team of researchers found that inflammation of brain tissue triggered the spread of “pathologically misfolded proteins in the brain and is a direct cause of eventual cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” according to the release.  

The role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease has been the focus of many ongoing clinical trials, Dr. Marc L. Gordon, chief of neurology at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Manhasset, New York, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

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“The notion here is that if you could identify a subset of the people who are cognitively normal but have amyloid present … on the basis of this biomarker for inflammation, those would be the people who you may want to test a new drug on,” he added.

With clinical trials starting to include people at earlier stages of pre-symptomatic disease, accurate early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s risk is critical for success, brain experts shared with Fox News Digital.

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