Unmet Need
According to the CDC, approximately 5.8-million individuals aged 65+ in the United States were living with Alzheimer’s disease in 2020 (see CDC). Alzheimer’s disease leads to memory impairment that progressively affects the ability of individuals to conduct daily tasks and worsens with time. Currently, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is conducted with clinically-based criteria, established by the National Institutes of Health and Aging (see uptodate). An alternative to clinically-based diagnosis criteria is genetic testing, but genetic testing is not routine due to the potential of false positives or negatives. However, genetic testing is recommended in young on-set individuals with a confirmed family history of the disease. To address potential mis-diagnoses, from clinical criteria as well as genetic testing, an assay that evaluates a key protein in the blood affected by Alzheimer’s disease may provide clinical benefit. Therefore, there is a strong need for the development of a technology that is able to provide robust clinical detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
Technology Overview
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed an approach capable of detecting the presence of Alzheimer’s disease. This technology leverages a biotin-labeled antibody that is administered to the peripheral blood stream that in turn forms a complex with the Alzheimer’s disease protein and allows for the effective measure of concentration in the plasma. In pre-clinical models with Alzheimer’s disease this technology was able to detect a lower Alzheimer’s associated protein concentration circulating in the blood as a result of disease compared to no disease pathology. Therefore, this invention has the potential to be translated to the clinic to serve as a diagnostic tool for Alzheimer’s disease.
Stage of Development
Experimental data is available.
Publication
Unpublished manuscript is available.
