A world-class research team at UCL led by UK DRI Co-Investigator Prof Jonathan Schott, and Dr Ashvini Keshavan, will carry out a countrywide trial to identify accurate and quick blood tests that can diagnose dementia. The team will work closely with the UK DRI Biomarker Factory, led by Prof Henrik Zetterberg and Dr Amanda Heslegrave, to validate the tests.
The ADAPT (Alzheimer’s disease Diagnosis And Plasma pTau217) team will focus on the most promising biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, called p-tau217. This reflects levels of amyloid and tau in the brain.
The researchers will carry out a clinical trial to see whether measuring p-tau217 in the blood increases the rate of diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease both in people with early dementia, but also in those with mild, progressive problems with memory.
Prof Jonathan Schott, Alzheimer’s Research UK Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Neurology, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, said:
“An early, accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is already important, allowing people access to appropriate care and medications. If, as we hope, new treatments that can slow down Alzheimer’s disease become available soon, then this will be vital. This would pave the way for fair and equitable access to new and potentially life-changing treatments to all who might benefit.”
The team is funded by the Blood Biomarker Challenge - a multi-million pound award by Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Research and Gates Ventures including £5m raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
An early, accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is already important, allowing people access to appropriate care and medications. If, as we hope, new treatments that can slow down Alzheimer’s disease become available soon, then this will be vital.Prof Jonathan Schott
Also funded by the Challenge award, the READ-OUT (REAl World Dementia OUTcomes) team led by Dr Vanessa Raymont, Professor James Rowe and Ivan Koychev with Dementias Platform UK researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, will test multiple existing and novel blood tests. They will look at a range of types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies. The researchers will also investigate whether the blood tests can help detect these diseases at various stages.
These complementary research approaches will maximise the chances of providing the evidence needed to prove that blood tests are ready for use in the NHS. They will pave the way for them to be made available to all who might benefit within the next 5 years.
Prof Siddharthan Chandran, Director of the UK DRI, said:
“A low-cost, scalable blood test is the ultimate goal in Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and this is the focus of our world-leading Biomarker Factory at the UK Dementia Research Institute. Such a blood test would enable faster, accurate and earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease at scale, which would revolutionise dementia diagnosis and allow patients to access these new drugs at the earliest possible point in their disease progression, making them more likely to be effective.”
Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK
Find out more about the UK DRI Biomarker Factory.
Article published: 4 April 2024
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