Alzheimer's blood test study; what researchers are sharing | FOX6 News Milwaukee

[00:00:00]is something important to talk about in the medical industry, especially for those of you who may have loved ones who are suffering from Alzheimer's or runs genetically in your family. There's been a bit of a medical breakthrough and it happened just down I-94 in our backyard um through research from UW Health. I want to bring in Dr. Jessica Caldwell um joining us now. Jessica, thanks so much for being with us.

[00:00:23]>> Thanks for having me.

[00:00:24]>> So, kind of break down these numbers because this was just released um at this year's Alzheimer's Association an international conference rather and it used local research. Can you kind of break down the numbers of what exactly was discovered?

[00:00:39]>> This discovery included almost 3,000 people from around the world but especially including participants from our local Wisconsin registry for Alzheimer's prevention. And what the study showed was that in these people even if they didn't have any memory problems, a simple blood test could not only identify Alzheimer's disease-related proteins in their brain but also predict what their memory would be like in 5 years and 10 years.

[00:01:07]>> So, I feel like when we think of Alzheimer's research, I mean it's such a complicated thing to understand what's going on in the brain. Can you talk a little bit how a a blood test can be enough to recognize that even years in advance?

[00:01:23]>> This is a critical part that we have for this study is that the blood test really can do about as good a job as other types of testing for detecting Alzheimer's disease proteins in the brain.

[00:01:36]Typically, what an individual would have for a test would be a brain imaging scan. The brain imaging scan is only available in certain places but it really does allow for um special tracer to bind to the protein proteins that build up in Alzheimer's right in the brain and show who has that protein.

[00:01:57]Researchers over many years and in-depth study have now gotten this blood test to the point where they can detect a protein called P-tau 217 in the blood that's highly reliably predicting who has Alzheimer's disease proteins in their brain as well as that PET scan could have done the brain scan.

[00:02:20]>> And I'm was looking at the study a little bit and the numbers are are striking. I mean 78% risk of impairment within a decade for those with high levels of the specific protein that you're talking about. How is this going to change the course of diagnosis and other aspects of Alzheimer's disease in the medical community?

[00:02:40]>> Well, I think we're a bit far from changing diagnosis, but I what I think is really critical and again, you mentioned those people with very high levels of the protein in their blood.

[00:02:51]This means twice as much as the average amount in the blood. Those folks have within 5 years a 38% risk of developing an Alzheimer's related diagnosis and then in 10 years a 78% chance, but this is in a research setting. So, what we can do right away with this information is start testing in our clinical trials.

[00:03:15]Will this help us better identify the best candidates for new medications for Alzheimer's disease or trials like exercise change trials?

[00:03:26]Um we are ultimately the end goal is really to get this into the clinic and be able to tell someone who has a family history and might be concerned about Alzheimer's risk that they do or don't have this protein and that their next few years could look a certain way.

[00:03:43]However, right now in the clinic, this is only used for people with memory problems, only trying to get a diagnosis specifically.

[00:03:52]>> Sure, and I know you had talked about that this is just the beginning of something that could be really remarkable. And I just I know talking future it can be a lot, but for people who might be watching down the line who are like, I don't know what's going to happen to me in 10 years or where I'm going to be, how could this help them in the long run knowing this?

[00:04:14]>> So, when we do get to that point where we can do prediction in individuals in a clinical setting, what this could do is a couple of things. First, it could potentially suggest that you are eligible for treatments for Alzheimer's disease. These are growing in terms of their availability every day. The types are changing rapidly right now. The other thing that this could do down the line in the future when we get this into the clinic is give people some sense of what their next 5 to 10 years might look like. This can help people plan. It can help them communicate with their families. They can make their own decisions about what they want their next decade to look like even if the news isn't good.

[00:04:59]>> And Dr. Caldwell, if I will, I mean your your experience and your research has been nationally recognized. I mean the amount of work you've done is just incredible. I was reading about it. I know we see these medical breakthrough headlines talking about Alzheimer's specifically. What does this mean to you to now have this information?

[00:05:19]>> Really, this is a game-changer. What we need to do right now is focus on better treatments for Alzheimer's disease and also better treatments for people who don't have any memory symptoms, but they've got proteins in their brain.

[00:05:32]Because what ultimately we want to do is to be able to address things before memory issues become a problem. This type of prediction is really a major step on the research pathway to getting that done.

[00:05:46]>> Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us. Is there anything that you want to add that you feel like people should know about this study that came out?

[00:05:55]>> I just wanted to say that the people from the Wisconsin registry for Alzheimer's prevention, these participants were part of that original FDA approval of the blood test that can detect proteins in the brain, and now they're really part of the next step, which is prediction. So, I'm I'm really grateful to our participants.

[00:06:16]Um it's been an amazing experience.

[00:06:18]>> Hats off to our Wisconsinites from that study. Uh Dr. Caldwell, thank you so much for joining us here on the live desk. Excited to see hopefully all that's to come with this new research.