2023-05-16 17:57:26
The neurologist Pascual Sánchez, dementia expert and researcher at the Marqus de Valdecilla University Hospital, has revealed that, within five years, it will be possible to detect Alzheimer’s through a blood test.
This was announced by the expert in the framework of the event ‘Updates on scientific research into Alzheimer’s disease and the needs of people affected’, organized by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and that it has taken place in the Senate.
According to Sánchez, there are currently three revolutions in the investigation of this disease. One of them is precisely the aforementioned blood diagnosis, which will begin in specialized centers, although it is expected to be extended to Primary Care “without very demanding technology.” As he has assured, “It is the revolution that is closest to reaching the clinic.”
From a biological point of view, this technique would allow us to know that these people have the proteins related to the disease. In this way, you can even diagnose preclinical Alzheimer’s, that is, detecting people who, although they do not present symptoms yet, already have the disease in their brain. “With this new tool we are going to be able to study the genetic risk of people, see if they have these proteins in their blood and see if have the first symptoms“, he pointed out.
Likewise, he has also highlighted that a revolution is taking place genetics in the disease that “is lighting the way”. “Until 10 years ago, we only knew that there was one associated gene; from 10 years ago, we already know more than 80”, he celebrated. In fact, in the last year genes have been duplicated who are known about the disease
These advances in genetics reaffirm that these pathologies really are causal and have a reason. “Everyone gets Alzheimer’s for a different reason, in such a way that, at some point, the risk profile can be better understood of each person”, he indicated.
Another of the revolutions has to do with digital markers, related to artificial intelligence (AI). “What is sought with this is that we can remotely monitor some biometric data of the patients, to be able to detect early signs that indicate that that person is beginning to have a cognitive decline”, he explained. That is, it is about finding signs that do not have to do with memory, but with speech or the person’s own movement.
For this reason, the expert has advocated “changing the focus” and moving from the symptomatic part current to the preclinical part of the disease. “Ah, we are going to focus our efforts to make the future a reality,” she added.
Alzheimer’s can sometimes be prevented
On the other hand, genetics professor Arcadi Navarro, leader of the Alzheimer’s research center at the Pasqual Maragal FoundationHe recalled that “there are epidemiological data that indicate that Alzheimer’s is preventable.”
“People with different lifestyles have different chances of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. Thus, she has explained that there are countries that began decades ago with cardiovascular prevention programs that to this day reap advantages in terms of Alzheimer’s.
“What is good for the heart is good for the brain, and there are areas that are reaping the benefits of these policies with better brain health. In this sense, I know that Alzheimer’s is preventable,” said Navarro, who clarified that still have to work on the basis of precision medicineto know the specific indications of prevention for a specific person.
In his opinion, ignorance of Alzheimer’s “is not something new” in medicine. “Not knowing the causes, and the enormous complexity of this type of disease, is a common challenge to cancers: they are extremely complex diseases and we have no clear idea of the causality,” he clarified.
However, the difference to be in a different phase between one disease and the other is “a difference in investment and resources.” “It has never happened in history that, when people have given a problem to sciencescience has not solved it”, has settled.
At this point, he stressed that “there is hope”, since, in recent months, there have been positive results from clinical trials of treatments for this neurological pathology. For example, in the United States a molecule has just been approved that, although it does not cure the disease, “it seems to slow her down”according to Navarro.
For the expert, the strategies that are capable of stopping the accumulation of beta-amyloid, a factor directly related to the development of Alzheimer’s, and slowing down cognitive deterioration, “maybe capable of stopping the dependency associated with the disease.”
In this sense, the “great challenge” is continue working for early detection, and continue to make it possible for people who are still in the early stages of the disease to be detected. Thus, it is committed to paying attention to drugs and non-pharmacological interventions that can be given to these people when they do not yet have any symptoms; although the disease is already doing its job.
For this reason, the “ideal”, according to Navarro, is “to achieve a world without Alzheimer’s by that there is not a single diagnosis“, for which he has called for more research funding for the disease. “If we invest resources in science that are dedicated to research, I have little doubt that we will reach this ideal world,” he has predicted.
As there are already drugs that modify the course of the disease, the specialist has opined that Spain “is about” to experience a change between “having an opportunity and having an obligation”.
“Now we have the opportunity to invest in science. Soon, the European Medicines Agency will approve new treatments and, therefore, we will have the obligation to give our citizens a complete service: very advanced early detection and the possibility of drugs that stop the disease or dependence from the moment of diagnosis”, Navarro has sentenced.
National Plan against Alzheimer’s
Thus, the leader of the Alzheimer’s research center of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation has referred to this disease as “the other pandemic that is coming”for which reason he has requested “planning” from the institutions.
“We see that it is coming, it is a structural pandemic, and we have to be able to plan. It is going to have to deploy a expense structure and specialized centersand we must begin to prepare these decision structures now”, he opined, adding that “the sooner action begins, the sooner the wave can be stopped”.
At this point, he has stressed that the United States invested 3,600 million dollars in Alzheimer’s last year (about 3,300 million euros). “In the United States they take it very seriously and are investing in research. We need funds and channel these funds through an Alzheimer’s Plan”has asked.
For his part, neurologist Pablo Martínez-Lage, also an expert in Alzheimer’s, has also called for a National Plan. “There is no National Alzheimer’s Plan, it does not have a budget”, he denounced, adding that a strategy in this sense is necessary so that all users have access to an early diagnosis of the disease, regardless of zip code.
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