Researchers conducted a long-term study in China tracking people with regular brain scans, spinal taps and tests over 20 years.
They found people who developed Alzheimer’s disease had higher levels of an Alzheimer’s-linked protein in their spinal fluid 18 years before diagnosis.
Every few years, new biomarkers of the disease like amyloid plaques and tau tangles appeared in their brains and spinal fluid.
This provides clues about the sequence of “silent” brain changes that occur before Alzheimer’s symptoms appear.
Knowing this timeline is important for developing treatments that could potentially intervene earlier to delay or prevent Alzheimer’s.
Recent drug approvals show therapies clearing amyloid work to slow early Alzheimer’s, and testing is underway to see if they can delay onset in high-risk people.
This research provides more evidence that Alzheimer’s causes brain changes long before symptoms and new clues about the order biomarkers appear prior to diagnosis.
Source: apnews
