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New product for earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has emerged as the most important of the neurodegenerative disorders, with 7% of those older than 65 and 15% older than 85 affected. The disease is responsible for more than 50% of dementia cases related to hospitalization. It is therefore imperative to differentiate AD from other dementia conditions which may be treatable or even partially reversible.
Pathologically, patients with AD show loss of neuronal cells, senile plaques and neurofibrillary lesions. beta-Amyloid is the main component in extracellular amyloid plaques; the microtubule associated protein tau is the main fibrous constituent in intracellular neurofibrillary lesions and is produced before the onset of clinical symptoms. The company Innogenetics developed an easy to use diagnostic test employing specific antibodies to detect tau proteins in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), making it the first test ever for the early diagnosis of AD. In addition, the company now also markets a test able to determine a beta-amyloid form associated with progression of disease. Thus, genetic engineering is helping in earlier clinical diagnosis and leading to breakthroughs in AD laboratory research.