14 DAY TRIAL // Scripps Research Institute researchers developed a possible new method for detecting Alzheimer's disease with a simple blood test, thanks to a technology using thousands of synthetic molecules to fish for disease-specific antibodies.
Thomas Kodadek and his team, used a large library of artificial molecules known as 'peptoids', randomly selected, to screen for antibodies within the bloodstream of animals or patients with certain diseases, that were not present in healthy individuals.
“The peptoids are really just random shapes,” explained Kodadek, adding that because the assembly of very large chemical is possible, with little effort, this method is really practical.
Also, this is a good opportunity to “step outside of the usual biological or chemical space” when looking for molecules with unknown roles in disease.
To test their concept, the first experiment was conducted on mice with experimental autoimmune encephalitis, because it is a condition very similar to human multiple sclerosis.
A few thousands peptoids managed to highlight the differences between blood samples coming from sick versus healthy mice.
So, the next logical step was to see whether this method could be effective in the case of human Alzheimer's disease.
The results of the experiments were positive, and the method identified three peptoids that accurately make the difference between blood samples taken from Alzheimer's patients and healthy individuals.
Kodadek says that the test was repeated several times since then, and it was successful every time, however, only a successful clinical trial will validate the method.
The researcher admitted that the performance of the test could depend of several factors, like the patients' ethnicity, or on different forms of dementia.
Also, even if the success of this method is validated, it's not sure that an early test for Alzheimer's would be useful, since there is no cure for the condition yet, so Kodadek said that, at first, the research could serve pharmaceutical companies; this way, they could make important advancements in their clinical trials.
But this method will be tested in diseases like pancreatic cancer, where an early diagnosis can increase a patient's survival rate.
“If this works in Alzheimer's disease, it suggests it is a pretty general platform that may work for a lot of different diseases,” said Kodadek.
“Now we need to put it in the hands of disease experts to tackle diseases where early diagnosis is key.”
It is possible that the antibody-based tests can identify some cancers, years before they could be detected otherwise, and this could even, one day, lead to the development of new and effective cancer vaccines.
And if this is actually accomplished in the future, “the dream scenario” would have come true, said Kodadek.
The research was reported in the January 7th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.