Early screening for Alzheimer’s disease with a simple credit card-sized device
Researchers and engineers from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) have developed a finger-prick blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease. It uses sensor technology to accurately detect ultra-low levels of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in blood.
Dementia refers to a range of illnesses that lead to a gradual deterioration in an individual’s language, problem-solving abilities and memory. According to the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland), there are more than 55 million people who currently have dementia worldwide, with approximately 10 million new cases every year. Alzheimer’s disease is the most widely recognized and the most common type, accounting for nearly 70% of dementia cases.
“Most patients with neurodegenerative disease are typically diagnosed at advanced stages. Sadly, treatments targeting late-onset disease provide limited therapeutic benefit. Earlier screening could change the outlook for many patients diagnosed with cognitive impairment through a greater chance of halting or slowing symptom development and the rapid progression of the disease,” explained Mattew Pase, Associate Professor at Monash University’s School of Psychological Sciences.
Sudha Mokkapati, Associate Professor at Monash University’s Materials Science and Engineering department has dedicated the past 4 years to addressing this challenge. Her team has been focused on molecular sensors, searching for those capable of detecting minute quantities of various substances. They created a handheld device for testing early-stage biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease; molecules found in the blood that signal the presence of the disease and other abnormalities.
This device is also designed with ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ precision, allowing the test to find these disease markers within minutes. This proof-of-concept electronic sensor is suitable for point-of-care testing, removing the need for laboratory-based pathology tests.
“It’s simple to use, low-cost and portable so it could be made widely accessible to GPs to screen patients right at the point-of-care,” commented Sudha.
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The goal of this project is to revolutionize the approach GPs use to screen for Alzheimer’s disease, in the hopes of streamlining diagnoses and offering non-invasive diagnostics. Their next objective involves conducting the necessary clinical validation to bring this tool closer to implementation.
“It is important that this validation has impactful cognitive decline as an end point rather than a different biomarker,” commented Mark Morgan, Chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP; Melbourne, Australia) expert committee.
