Newly discovered biomarkers may lead to promising diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's
A new study from The Ohio State University has identified a potential new way of confirming the disease and predicting a patient's outlook. First, the team of researchers discovered new physical biomarkers that could help pinpoint a diagnosis -- changes to proteins found in the spinal fluid and blood of patients. In particular, as Alzheimer's severity increased, the proteins were longer, more rigid and more clustered, said lead researcher Mingjun Zhang, a professor of biomedical engineering at Ohio State. After finding these new clues to the disease, the research team entered information about the biomarkers and several other factors -- including scores from cognitive assessments of patients -- into an algorithm designed to rate the severity of illness. The researchers found that the equation could identify disease stages and progression. "With a tool like this you may predict how fast this disease will go, and currently we can't do that -- we just know ever...