Mouse brain showing protein plaques (blue) associated with Alzheimer’s disease

An antibody-based eye test developed by researchers at Western Sydney University detects proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease before the brain is impacted. 

Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, the paper’s senior author, Associate Professor Mourad Tayebi said that while it has long been known that amyloid beta oligomer proteins (so-called ‘rogue proteins’) are detectable in the blood of Alzheimer’s patients up to 20 years before the disease’s onset, their research has shown that they also accumulate in the retina. Their antibody test, they said, could allow detection via a routine eye check before the disease impacts the brain.  

“Scientists have previously known that these rogue proteins accumulate in blood, but this is the first time they’ve been found in the eye before disease manifestation. This could lead to a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and new diagnostic approaches,” he said, adding that with adequate funding, clinical trials could be less than two years away. 

For more on the eye’s relationship with Alzheimer’s, see https://eyeonoptics.co.nz/articlesearchresults?searchstring=alzheimer%27s