Is Shape of Aβ an Early Blood Biomarker for Alzheimer’s?

12 Apr 2018

Within the past nine months, researchers developed assays that correlate reduced concentration of soluble Aβ in the blood with amyloid plaques in the brain. Now a group led by Klaus Gerwert, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, suggests that changes in the structure of plasma Aβ might herald Alzheimer’s disease. Using infrared spectroscopy to measure the ratio of β-sheet to α-helical forms of Aβ in plasma, the researchers distinguished people with prodromal AD from healthy controls. In a longitudinal study, normal people who tested positive for the β-sheet form were nearly eight times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s during the next eight years. Gerwert published the findings in the April 6 EMBO Molecular Medicine.