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A plasma biomarker could be used to predict which patients with mild cognitive impairment will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease, suggests a study in the November 2007 issue of Nature Medicine.
Tony Wyss-Coray and colleagues find 18 plasma signalling proteins that can correctly classify patients with Alzheimer's compared with patients with other types of dementia or compared with controls. These same biomarkers can then predict which patients with mild cognitive impairment will progress to develop dementia characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. This biomarker panel could be used to target early treatment only to patients that are most likely to benefit from it -- patients with mild cognitive impairment that are destined to develop full-blown Alzheimer's disease. Author contact: Tony Wyss-Coray (Stanford University, CA, USA)
E-mail: twc@stanford.edu Abstract available online. (C) Nature Medicine press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
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