TOKYO: A Japanese-led research group has developed a method for predicting whether people will develop Alzheimer’s disease by measuring the blood concentration of proteins believed to cause it.

The group, including University of Tokyo researchers, developed the method in the first large-scale demonstration test of it performed on Japanese individuals. The team believes that the method may lead to early diagnoses of the disease.

The findings were published in an international journal Thursday.

Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the buildup of abnormal proteins called amyloid-beta and tau, which cause nerve cell damage and cognitive decline, from about 10 to 20 years before symptoms appear.

Of some six million dementia patients in Japan, around 60 to 70 percent are estimated to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, according to the health ministry.

The research group conducted a series of blood and other tests from 2019 on asymptomatic patients and people who were suffering from a decline in cognitive functions although they had not developed Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers succeeded in estimating with high precision the levels of amyloid-beta and tau protein buildups for 474 participants from their concentrations of the substances in the blood.

They confirmed the accuracy by comparing the estimates with brain images taken with positron emission tomography, or PET, which can show accumulations of the proteins in the brain.

Patients seeking treatment using lecanemab, a drug for people with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, must undergo PET scans to assess the buildup of amyloid-beta and tau proteins in their brains. But the availability of equipment needed for scans varies by region, and the tests are costly for patients.

“We hope that putting the method into practical use and effectively utilizing drugs will lead to the early prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” said research group member Takeshi Iwatsubo, professor at the University of Tokyo.

JIJI Press