Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects many areas of cognition including language, attention, reasoning, and judgment. Many view MCI a transitional stage from the cognitive changes that accompany normal aging to the more serious complications brought on by Alzheimer’s disease.
The Mayo Clinic estimates that 12% of those over 70 have MCI. People with MCI are three to four times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those without such impairment.
But some people with MCI don’t go on to develop any type of dementia. Some remain stable, and others revert to normal. Research indicates that approximately 16% of individuals with MCI develop Alzheimer’s each year.
For those living with MCI, a diagnostic that identifies Alzheimer’s disease before onset would offer the best opportunity for patients to take advantage of available treatment options.
A recent study led by Dr. Harald Hampel showed that Applied NeuroSolutions‘ p-tau 231 biomarker (p-tau 231) is a significant predictor of conversion in the transition from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease.
In the longitudinal, European-based multicenter study, 145 subjects were followed for 1.5 years on average, including 43 MCI subjects that subsequently developed Alzheimer’s, 45 MCI subjects that did not decline to Alzheimer’s disease and 57 controls. The results indicate that p-tau 231 predicts the conversion from preclinical MCI to Alzheimer’s with about 80% accuracy – suggesting clinical utility of p-tau 231 for the prediction of Alzheimer’s disease within a “clinically useful” time period of 1.5 years.
Dr. Hampel commented, “This is one of the first multicenter controlled validation studies on early detection and prediction of Alzheimer’s disease and the first one using p-tau 231. It is key to note that we utilized an assessment period of 1-2 years, which is both relatively short and a clinically relevant time frame for the prediction of disease progression to Alzheimer’s disease.”
Applied NeuroSolutions is developing other serum-based tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages, including a cerebrospinal fluid-based diagnostic.