Blood marker may flag Alzheimer's-related changes in Down syndrome decades before symptoms appear
Decades before the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease appear, some changes associated with the disease may begin to leave a trace in the blood. A study by the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) has found that, in people with Down syndrome, levels of β-synuclein, a protein related to synaptic function, begin to rise in the third decade of life, long before symptoms appear and earlier…
A study by the Sant Pau Research Institute has found that levels of β-synuclein, a protein related to synaptic function, begin to rise in the blood of people with Down syndrome in their third decade of life, long before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease appear. This discovery, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, positions β-synuclein as a promising marker of the earliest synaptic changes associated with the disease.
The research, conducted in collaboration with Martin Luther University in Germany and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, highlights the importance of understanding the earliest changes in the brain to develop interventions at early stages of the disease. People with Down syndrome have an exceptionally high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, making this research particularly valuable.
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