When an older loved one begins to forget things, getting a clear diagnosis can be frustratingly difficult.
Even for Alzheimer’s disease—the most common form of dementia—doctors often rely on behavioral observations, such as memory tests and changes in daily function, rather than definitive medical tests.
Brain scans and blood tests provide clues but remain far from conclusive. In fact, the only way to be absolutely certain about any type of dementia is still through examining the brain after death.
Now, scientists at UC San Francisco are taking an unexpected approach to close this diagnostic gap: turning to commercial dyes.
These are the same kinds of chemical dyes often used in industry, from textiles to plastics.
The research team, led by pharmaceutical chemistry professor Jason Gestwicki, screened hundreds of dyes to see which ones could bind to the abnormal protein clumps in the brain that are linked to different dementias.
Their findings, published in Nature Chemistry, may pave the way for new diagnostic tools.
The team’s first target was tau, a protein that clumps together in distinctive shapes in diseases like Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia, and progressive supranuclear palsy.
By creating different tau clumps in the lab, the researchers tested about 300 dyes to see which ones would “stick.” After repeated rounds of screening, they narrowed the list down to 27 candidates, and finally to 10 strong hits.
One of these dyes successfully highlighted tau clumps in both an animal model of Alzheimer’s and in brain tissue samples from deceased Alzheimer’s patients. This result is particularly promising because it shows that industrial dyes, which were never designed for medical use, can in fact bind to disease-specific proteins in the brain.
The researchers didn’t stop at tau. They also tested the dyes against two other proteins known to form clumps in other neurological conditions.
Again, several promising matches were found. These results suggest that carefully chosen or redesigned dyes could eventually help doctors distinguish between different types of dementia—something that is currently very difficult to do in living patients.
Gestwicki believes this approach could also expand beyond dementia. “Industrial chemistry has produced thousands of molecules that might fail in their original purpose,” he said.
“But some of them could turn out to be incredibly valuable in medicine.” His team hopes the streamlined dye-screening method could one day help address other diagnostic challenges, including those in cancer and broader neurological diseases.
While more research is needed, the work represents an exciting step toward earlier and more accurate diagnoses.
For patients and families facing the uncertainty of dementia, better tools for identifying the disease in life could transform both research and care.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about inflammation that may actually slow down cognitive decline in older people, and low vitamin D may speed up cognitive decline.
For more health information, please see recent studies about common exercises that could protect against cognitive decline, and results showing this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
