A research group led by Specially Appointed Associate Professor Ichiro Kawabata at Tohoku University Graduate School is developing a new quantitative technology for disease identification using plasma biomarkers for mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Lewy body dementia. established.This has made it possible to differentiate each disease with high accuracy.
Accurate neurodegeneration risk prediction and disease differentiation before the onset of symptoms is extremely important to achieve early therapeutic intervention for the increasing number of age-related brain diseases such as dementia and movement disorders.The use of blood biomarkers, which only require a small amount of blood, is safe, simple, and low-cost.Based on previous research, the research group focused on the usefulness of fatty acid binding protein (FABP) family proteins (FABPs) as predictive markers of disease risk and investigated the possibility that they reflect the status of Lewy body disease.
The study measured and compared FABPs levels in the plasma of 600 patients with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, and mild cognitive impairment and healthy controls.As a result, an increase or decrease in FABPs plasma levels was observed in each disease.As a result, FABPs were considered to be a potential biomarker for differentiating each disease.
Furthermore, a scoring technology for disease differentiation that utilizes plasma levels of multiple biomarkers, including FABPs, was able to differentiate each disease with high accuracy.This indicates that FABPs may serve as a potential new biomarker for Lewy body disease, helping in early disease detection and differentiation from other age-related brain diseases.
The results of this research make it possible to predict the onset of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, as well as Parkinson's disease, and are expected to provide fundamental treatment before the onset of symptoms through early therapeutic intervention.
