In a recent study published in Nature Ageing, scientists from the Fudan University in Shanghai shown how profiles of protein in the blood could predict dementia prior to clinical diagnosis. These are known as biomarkers, which are molecules found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that indicate a normal or abnormal process or a condition or disease. In the published study, researchers analysed blood samples collected from 52,645 healthy volunteers (median age of 58) enrolled in a large cohort from the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank. Blood samples collected between 2006 and 2010 were frozen and then analysed 10–15 years later by the research team. Until March 2023, a total of 1,417 participants developed dementia, revealing dysregulation of protein biomarkers. Alzheimer's disease and vascular Alzheimer's disease were the most common diagnoses among these cases.
Using artificial intelligence, the researchers looked for connections between nearly 1,500 blood proteins and developing dementia years later. They found that high blood levels of four proteins (GFAP, NEFL, GDF15 and LTBP2) were strongly associated with dementia. For some participants who developed dementia, blood levels of these proteins were outside normal ranges more than ten years before symptom onset. Further analysis confirmed the prognostic value of these high baseline levels for increased dementia risk. Individuals with higher GFAP levels were 2.32 times more likely to develop dementia. Notably, GFAP and LTBP2 were highly specific for dementia prediction.
