idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
The best-established biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease have a low natural variation over two years. The results speak for the inclusion of these biomarkers in clinical trials of novel drugs against Alzheimer's disease.
The results are presented by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sweden, in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"We show that the best-established diagnostic biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease stay at basically the same level during two years in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. This means that the biomarkers could be useful for detecting even minor biochemical changes induced by treatment in the clinical trials of novel drugs against Alzheimer's," says Henrik Zetterberg, Associate Professor at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
Dr Zetterberg and colleagues analyzed cerebrospinal fluid from more than 80 patients with mild cognitive impairment. Some of these patients developed full-blown Alzheimer's disease. The measured levels of the tau and amyloid-B proteins were compared in samples drawn from the same patients two years apart.
"If a novel drug candidate actually stops or slows down the neurodegenerative disease process in Alzheimer's disease, we should expect a normalized tau concentration in cerebrospinal fluid in patients on active treatment. Such a change should be readily detectable also in a small and inexpensive pilot study, given the low intra-individual variation in biomarker levels over time that was detected in our study," Dr Zetterberg says.
Alzheimer's disease is an age-related brain-damaging disorder that results in progressive cognitive impairment and death. Three decades of progress have resulted in a profound understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. In the past 10 years, this knowledge has translated into a range of targets for therapy, the most promising of which is amyloid-B.
Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 12:3 (November 2007)
Article title: Intra-Individual Stability of CSF Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease over Two Years
Authors: Henrik Zetterberg, Mona Pedersen, Karin Lind, Maria Svensson, Sindre Rolstad, Carl Eckerström, Steinar Syversen, Ulla-Britt Mattsson, Chrisina Ysander, Niklas Mattsson, Arto Nordlund, Hugo Vanderstichele, Eugeen Vanmechelen, Michael Jonsson, Åke Edman, kaj Blennow and Anders Wallin
For more information contact: Associate Professor Henrik Zetterberg, telephone: +46 31 343 01 42, +46 708 60 37 55, e-mail: henrik.zetterberg@clinchem.gu.se
Pressofficer Elin Lindström Claessen; elin.lindstrom@sahlgrenska.gu.se; phone +46-70 829 43 03
http://www.j-alz.com/issues/12/vol12-3.html abstract
Criteria of this press release:
Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Nutrition / healthcare / nursing
transregional, national
Research results
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
