Researchers at Emory University’s Goizueta Brain Health Institute and its partners have discovered important changes in the blood that may help explain how Alzheimer’s disease develops and how it affects memory.
Their findings, published in the journal Nature Aging, could offer new directions for early detection and treatment.
In this large study, scientists analyzed blood samples from over 2,100 people involved in four major Alzheimer’s research programs.
They used advanced tools to measure thousands of different proteins in the blood and looked at how these proteins were linked to brain function and memory.
Until now, Alzheimer’s research has mainly focused on sticky protein clumps called amyloid plaques in the brain.
These plaques are a well-known sign of the disease. However, the new study shows that many other biological processes are involved too.
The researchers found that certain blood proteins connected to the immune system, energy use, waste removal, and the body’s support structure (called the extracellular matrix) were also tied to memory and thinking problems.
Interestingly, many of these changes were not explained by known signs of Alzheimer’s in the brain. This suggests that changes happening in other parts of the body—outside the brain—may play a role in the disease.
Dr. Erik Johnson, one of the study’s leaders, said, “Many of the proteins we found in blood are not directly tied to what we see in the brain after death.
This means that what’s happening in the rest of the body could influence how Alzheimer’s starts and how quickly it gets worse.”
This discovery is important because it could lead to new types of treatments. Instead of only focusing on the brain, doctors might be able to develop drugs that target these protein changes in the blood.
Dr. Allan Levey, executive director of the Goizueta Institute, explained, “This work helps us understand which blood proteins are involved in Alzheimer’s. It lays the foundation for future blood tests that could detect Alzheimer’s-related problems in the brain, even before symptoms appear.”
The study also gives support to the idea that blood tests could one day be used as a simple, less invasive way to detect and monitor Alzheimer’s disease. That could help more people get diagnosed early and receive treatments before serious memory loss occurs.
The research team included data from several respected Alzheimer’s research efforts: Emory’s own Alzheimer’s studies, the Bio-Hermes study, and the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP).
These findings provide hope that, in the near future, a simple blood test may be enough to detect Alzheimer’s early, monitor its progress, and guide new treatments that not only target the brain but the rest of the body too.
The study is published in Nature Aging.
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