This means “we’ll be able to predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease with only a blood test and a memory test ten years in advance.”

To detect and treat Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages, effective and affordable screening methods are necessary.

A team of researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a particular sugar molecule in the blood that correlates with the level of tau, a protein that is essential in the progression of severe dementia.

Their findings, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, suggest that this discovery may pave the way for an uncomplicated screening process capable of predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s up to a decade in advance.

Robin Zhou, the first author of the study and a medical student and affiliated researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, highlights that the role of glycans, which are sugar molecules, has not been widely studied in the context of dementia research.

Zhou explains that their research findings indicate that blood glycans levels undergo changes during the initial stages of the disease’s development. Consequently, it may be feasible to predict the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease by administering a simple blood and memory test.

The death of neurons in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, believed to be caused by the atypical buildup of proteins, such as amyloid beta and tau.

Alzheimer’s drug clinical trials demonstrate that initiating treatment during the early stages of the disease’s pathological process is crucial to prevent significant neuron loss and potentially reverse the condition before it becomes irreversible.

We need more blood biomarkers

There is a growing demand for non-invasive screening methods for Alzheimer’s that are both practical and cost-effective. As taking samples of cerebrospinal fluid is challenging and brain imaging is expensive, markers detected in blood are preferred.

In this study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet revealed that the presence of a specific glycan structure in blood, known as bisected N-acetylglucosamine, can serve as an indicator to anticipate the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

In previous studies, the research team had established a correlation between the levels of tau protein and glycans in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. However, these analyses were conducted on cerebrospinal fluid. Glycans, which are sugar molecules present on protein surfaces, regulate the function and location of these proteins within the body.

In their recent investigation, the researchers examined blood glycan levels and found that people with comparable levels of glycans and tau had a more than twofold higher chance of developing dementia resembling Alzheimer’s disease.

“We also show that a simple statistical model that take into account blood glycan and tau levels, the risk gene APOE4 and a memory test,” as explained by corresponding author Sophia Schedin Weiss, “can be used to predict Alzheimer’s disease to a reliability of 80 per cent almost a decade before symptoms such as memory loss appear.”

Almost 20 years of follow up

The study’s findings are drawn from a sample of 233 individuals who participated in the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) between 2001 and 2004. The study monitored the participants’ memory loss and the incidence of dementia at regular intervals for up to 17 years.

The researchers plan to expand their investigation by analyzing blood samples from the remaining SNAC-K participants, as well as individuals participating in other aging studies both within and beyond Sweden.

Dr. Schedin Weiss states that they are collaborating with primary care researchers in Sweden to assess various biomarkers for dementia in primary health care settings. The team anticipates that blood glycans will emerge as a useful adjunct to existing Alzheimer’s disease screening techniques, enabling early detection of the condition.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, specifically in Lars Tjernberg’s research group within the Division of Neurogeriatrics, conducted the study in partnership with the Aging Research Centre at Karolinska Institutet, the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, and Karolinska University Hospital.

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