Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study

[bglazer]

One caveat is that this is necessarily a retrospective study. The authors looked at historical data from the UK Biobank, ran a regression, and found these genes. So, it’s not really clear if these genes are actually causing dementia, or if they’re just related to a common cause, or (most likely) tied together through some very complicated web of biological mechanisms.

That said, they’re interesting genes. GFAP is expressed in astrocytes, which are glial cells. These perform a lot of tasks in the brain, but they seem important in protecting neurons from toxic stresses. So, this may give us some additional insight into the role of glial cells like astrocytes in dementia.

[rwmj]

If it's predictive, does it matter?

[Maxion]

But it is not a retrospective study? They took blood samples at baseline from all participants, and later on some developed dementia?

[buyohmarkers]

GFAP as dementia biomarker isn't a new discovery. Here's a 2023 meta-analysis that used papers as old as 2020.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10177296/

[mbreese]

> Proteins (for example Glial Fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP) had previously been identified as potential biomarkers for dementia in smaller studies, but this new research was much larger and conducted over several years.

The article (University press release) does mention this... but seeing a known suspect in the biomarker list would lend some confidence to any novel biomarkers found. So, it's good to see multiple studies having similar hits.

[rablackburn]

They mention this in the article, and of course, the scientific method means we _want_ to have more than one suggestive meta-analysis before we declare any kind of "discovery" at all.

> Proteins (for example Glial Fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP) had previously been identified as potential biomarkers for dementia in smaller studies, but this new research was much larger and conducted over several years.

[elromulous]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-023-00565-0

^ direct link to the paper.

[ncr100]

"... plasma proteins, GFAP, NEFL, GDF15 and LTBP2 consistently associated most with incident all-cause dementia (ACD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD), and ranked high in protein importance ordering."

[xkgt]

> Of 1,463 proteins analysed, aided by with a type of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, 11 proteins were identified and combined as a protein panel, which the researchers have shown to be highly accurate at predicting future dementia.

I understand that press releases are intended for non-technical folks but I don't get the point of this description. Is it assumed that machine learning is less understood than artificial intelligence?

[sr-latch]

a scientists view of the common man's knowledge is very distorted

[owenpalmer]

It's always encouraging to see progress in disease prevention. As a young person, I'm looking forward to what the medical field will be like when I'm 70.

[ekianjo]

its not disease prevention its correlation.

[m3kw9]

Now is there something that can be done early or is it 15 extra years of suffering

[berdon]

From what I understand, the medicine available is fairly successful at staving off further disease progression but the normal late stage diagnosis often means it’s far too late. This might make outcomes significantly better if it works as well as reported.

[stubish]

The article states there are medications that can slow or reverse the disease, if the disease is diagnosed early enough.

"An early diagnosis is critical for those with dementia. New drug technology can slow, or even reverse the progress of Alzheimer’s, but only if the disease is detected early enough. The drug lecanemab is one of two new treatments for the disease."

[hgomersall]

Probably diet and exercise. Would be interesting to see an interventional study based on this.

[quickthrower2]

I wonder what kinds of useful stuff dogs can smell already… but they can’t say anything!

[johnnyanmac]

The most common but always impressive story I hear is that some dogs can smell cancer developing months or even a year before an official diagnosis. It honestly makes me wonder if the true next step for medical tooling should focus on enhancing human smell instead of sight to expand our spectrum or magnify microbes.

as another random trivia, many animals can often feel or hear an earthquake minutes to days in advance, demonstrated by unusual behavior. This is even less consistent but a phenomenon observed for millenia (wheras we didn't even properly name understand cancer until a few centuries at best).

[loceng]

Are these protein biomarkers also associated with inflammation in the body, perhaps diet-specific inflammation?

[foolfoolz]

great step to figuring how we can prevent / cure these protein changes

[r-bryan]

OK, but I'd rather prevent/cure the dementia.

[megamix]

Does this mean that big pharma can celebrate and sell more drugs?

[ransom1538]

I can't wait until we all find out it is from dentists or people picking their noses.

[hanniabu]

Why would it be from dentists?