Measuring Metabolism Can Predict the Progress of Alzheimer’s with 90% Accuracy
When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, scientists usually — and understandably — look to the brain as their first center of attention. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University say that early clues regarding the progression of the disease can be found in the brain’s metabolism.
In very early stages of the disease, before any symptoms appear, metabolic processes are already beginning to change in the brain, says PhD candidate Shiri Stempler of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Working with Profs. Eytan Ruppin and Lior Wolf of TAU’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Stempler has developed predictor models that use metabolic information to pinpoint the progression of Alzheimer’s. These models were 90 percent accurate in predicting the stage of the disease.
Published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, the research is the first step towards identifying biomarkers that may ensure better detection and analysis of the disease at an early stage, all with a simple blood test. It could also lead to novel therapies. “We hope that by studying metabolism, and the alterations to metabolism that occur in the very early stages of the disease, we can find new therapeutic strategies,” adds Stempler.
