Biomarker<\/a> Challenge, a multi-million-pound programme supported by\u00a0Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research\u00a0UK\u00a0and\u00a0players of People’s Postcode Lottery.\u00a0The initiative aims to determine if the blood test is reliable in a broad range of patients that would make it a\u00a0form of diagnostics that matches the accuracy of current methods.<\/p>\nAlzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, is linked to the build-up of two key proteins in the brain called\u00a0amyloid and tau.\u00a0One of the most promising biomarkers in the blood,\u00a0p-tau217, reflects the presence of both amyloid and tau in the brain.\u00a0Emerging evidence suggests that blood tests such\u00a0as plasma p-tau217 can detect these proteins as accurately as current methods such as amyloid PET scans and lumbar punctures, and therefore may have the potential to offer a less invasive, more accessible, and cost-effective alternative.<\/p>\n
Although these blood tests are not standalone diagnostic tools, they could be used as part of a wider clinical assessment to confirm the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease for people who already have memory or thinking problems.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0ADAPT\u00a0team have already\u00a0assessed and validated the accuracy and performance of the p-tau217 blood test which is now established in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery’s NHS Neuroimmunology and CSF Laboratory.\u00a0The team is now running a clinical trial to demonstrate that the test is accurate, cost-effective, and suitable for integration into routine care across NHS memory services.<\/p>\n
The first\u00a0ADAPT\u00a0trial location began recruitment in Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in late August\u00a0with 19 additional specialist NHS Centres planned across the UK.\u00a0All participants in the ADAPT study will receive standard diagnostic assessments and care. Half of the planned participants will receive their blood test results within three months of being assessed for the first time in their memory service, while the other half will receive theirs after 12 months.<\/p>\n
The team will assess whether providing results earlier helps speed up diagnosis, guides decisions about further investigations, and influences how both patients and clinicians interpret and respond to the results.\u00a0Researchers will also assess the impact of blood test results on quality of life using a system called the EQ-5D-5L, a standardised instrument\u00a0for measuring\u00a0health-related quality of life, as well as healthcare costs, and their relevance to people from diverse ethnic backgrounds or with conditions like kidney disease.<\/p>\n
Professor\u00a0Jonathan Schott of the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and\u00a0Chief Medical Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK,\u00a0said:\u00a0“We are\u00a0thrilled\u00a0to welcome participants\u00a0onto the ADAPT\u00a0trial\u00a0– a critical part of the\u00a0Blood Biomarker Challenge, which\u00a0we hope will take\u00a0us a step forward in revolutionising the way we diagnose dementia.<\/p>\n
“After decades of research, we now have a blood test\u00a0for Alzheimer’s disease\u00a0that is backed by strong scientific evidence and\u00a0provides comparable information to other gold-standard diagnostic tests such\u00a0as\u00a0PET scans and lumbar\u00a0punctures yet\u00a0is far more accessible, and cheaper.<\/p>\n
“Currently only about 2% of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have access to one of these gold-standard diagnostic tests.\u00a0While identifying Alzheimer’s disease\u00a0early and accurately\u00a0is already important for enabling access to current therapies and planning care, it will become even more critical as a new generation of\u00a0treatments\u00a0emerge\u00a0that can slow down the decline of memory and thinking.\u00a0Timely diagnosis\u00a0will be key to ensuring these advances reach the people who need them most.”<\/p>\n
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An important characteristic about this trial is that it is indexing the impact of the blood test on onward care and management. Our trial is not about confirming accuracy of the blood test, as we have already done this in prior research; rather, this is about showing that it actually makes a difference to patients and hopefully can help them to get a diagnosis sooner.”<\/p>\n
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Dr. Ashvini Keshavan, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology<\/p>\n
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Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Our recent Lived Experience Survey revealed that only a third of people with dementia felt their experience of the diagnosis process was positive, while many reported being afraid of receiving a diagnosis.\u00a0As a result, too often, dementia is diagnosed late, limiting access to support, treatment, and opportunities to\u00a0plan ahead. For many across the UK, getting that diagnosis remains a major challenge – one that it will take society, researchers and governments working together to fix.<\/p>\n
“The launch of the ADAPT trial – part of the Blood Biomarker Challenge collaboration – marks a critical step towards that.\u00a0Blood tests could offer a faster and more accessible route to diagnosis. The\u00a0Blood Biomarker Challenge\u00a0is committed to building the evidence needed to bring these innovative tests into NHS care, delivering real benefits for people living with dementia and their families.”<\/p>\n
Dr Sheona Scales, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK,\u00a0added:\u00a0“Today,\u00a0one in three people with dementia do not have a diagnosis. The ADAPT trial is an important opportunity to change this and transform the way dementia is diagnosed across the UK. It shows how sustained investment in research is leading to breakthroughs in dementia.”<\/p>\n
A member of the\u00a0ADAPT Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group, Michael White, 75, who cares for his wife Kathryn, said:\u00a0“We all knew there was something serious, but the medical professionals\u00a0couldn’t find it. It took two and a half years to get a diagnosis.\u00a0A blood test like this would have helped to make a diagnosis right at the start and would have made a real difference to us.”<\/p>\n
Kathryn White,\u00a074,\u00a0added: “We knew there was something wrong and I was doing things like getting\u00a0lost in places I was familiar with. It was a relief,\u00a0in many ways,\u00a0to have a diagnosis because it helped to make sense of it.”<\/p>\n
Source:<\/p>\n
University College London<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major UCL-led clinical trial, aiming to transform the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease through a simple blood test,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2012,2994,2991,2995,84,2996,2926,8016,2997,103,61,60,6458,2682,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-15776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-alzheimers-disease","9":"tag-biomarker","10":"tag-blood","11":"tag-blood-test","12":"tag-brain","13":"tag-clinical-trial","14":"tag-dementia","15":"tag-diagnostic","16":"tag-diagnostics","17":"tag-health","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-neurology","21":"tag-protein","22":"tag-research"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}