Inherited Alzheimer's Detectable 20 Years Before Symptom Onset

HealthDay News on July 20 -- Inherited forms of Alzheimer's disease may be detectable up to two decades before problems with memory and thinking develop, according to new research.

"We want to prevent damage and loss of brain cells by intervening early in the disease process -- even before outward symptoms are evident, because by then it may be too late," Dr. Randall Bateman, Alzheimer's researcher and physician at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and an associate director of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN), an international study of inherited forms of Alzheimer's, said in a university news release.


The age of disease onset among study participants could be predicted by referencing their parents. For instance, if a parent developed dementia at the age of 50 years, a child who inherited the mutation would be expected to develop dementia at roughly the same age. As a result, scientists are able to compile detailed chronologies of disease progression, covering the many years Alzheimer's is active in people's brains, although symptoms are not yet visible.


Initial results of the study confirm and expand on previous research, which suggested that certain changes in spinal fluid could be detected years before dementia.

"Based on what we see in our population, brain chemistry changes can be detected up to 20 years before the expected age of symptomatic onset," said Bateman. "These Alzheimer's-related changes can be specifically targeted for prevention trials in patients with inherited forms of Alzheimer's."

SOURCE: Washington University in St. Louis, news release, July 20, 2011