Study Shows Proteins Level Are Linked to Cognitive Decline

In a recent scientific study, it was revealed that blood levels of a specific protein are linked directly to the chances an elderly person has of developing forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, over the next decade or so.

The investigation was conducted on elderly people, whose blood levels of the protein beta-amyloid 42 were kept under monitoring for a few years. This particular molecule has been proven in past studies to play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

In these individuals, the risk of developing this form of dementia was significantly increased than in their peers with normal levels of this protein. The correlation between the two was clearly visible in this long-term, 9-year study, the team behind the work says.

The research was led by experts at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, in the United States, who were led by the chief of geriatric psychiatry, Dr. Kristine Yaffe. Nearly 1,000 patients were involved in this work.

All the participants were from Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, and they had an average age of 74. The test subjects were a part of the Health ABC Study, that is coordinated by the San Francisco Coordinating Center at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).

The work was sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), which is a part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), PsychCentral reports. One of the most interesting conclusions was that people who were more literate and educated tended to have a lower chance of developing Alzheimer’s.

This correlation held true even if these individuals had low beta-amyloid 42 blood levels. It was also found that individuals lacking a specific gene called APOE e4 were less likely to become demented.

Past investigations have linked this particular gene to a higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s. All these influencing factors were collectively called “cognitive reserve,” the team says.

“We show that a blood test for beta-amyloid 42 might be a good way to predict those at risk for cognitive decline,” Yaffe says of the study's conclusions.

“Also, for the first time, we show that cognitive reserve – a general level of resiliency in the brain – might modify that risk in the elderly,” she goes on to say.

At this point, “there is no reliable method of predicting ahead of time who will experience cognitive decline and go on to develop dementia. A blood test would be a huge step forward,” Yaffe adds.

Details of the new investigation appear in a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association.