CSB #4: Blood Test for Alzheimers

 

Definitions

•  Alzheimer's disease: A disease that causes mental deterioration from the degeneration of the brain in middle or old ages.
• Antigen proteins: Proteins of a foreign substance that triggers an immune response like the production of antibodies from the human body.
• Peptoids: Small variations of peptide molecules in the human body
• Peptides: A compound consisting of two or more amino acids linked in a chain.

Summary

Scientists are trying to find ways to detect Alzheimer's disease and diagnose it earlier by assuming that the disease causes the immune system to defend the human body. In order for the body to react and create antibodies, there must be antigen proteins that recognize the foreign infection. If doctors could see the Alzheimer's process earlier, they could diagnose it and possibly cure it. These scientists are trying different methods to detect Alzheimer's disease like trying to look for signals in the bloodstream. However, they do not know what antigen proteins are signs of the disease, so they exposed different variations of peptide molecules in the human body with blood samples of people with and without Alzheimer's. If only some peptides bounded with antibodies in blood samples of people with Alzheimer's than those without, scientists could look for them in the bloodstream to detect Alzheimer's. The results were that scientists discovered 3 peptides that bound to antibodies of people with Alzheimer's, but they are doing more experiments on more people.

Discussion

I think that this discovery is very interesting because before this experiment, there was no way of finding Alzheimer's disease and diagnosing it. Also, I believe that when scientists do more tests and eventually detect Alzheimer's before it occurs, they could find a way to cure it. I find it interesting that only some peptide molecules bound to antibodies in the blood of people with Alzheimer's than those without it. I am also interested in the origins of Alzheimer's disease, which may be discovered after scientists diagnose it. I hope that in the future Alzheimer's disease is cured.

Questions

• How did the scientists discover that peptides could be connected to detecting if a person has Alzheimer's?
• How was Alzheimer's disease discovered and what causes it?

Citations

Moseman, Andrew. "Researchers Take One Step Towards a Blood Test for
     Alzheimer's." Discover 7 Jan. 2011: n. pag. Web. 9 Jan. 2011.
     <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/01/07/
     researchers-take-one-step-towards-a-blood-test-for-alzheimers/
     ?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DiscoverHealthMedicine+
     (Discover+Health+%26+Medicine)>.