Research news: Blood test accurate on Alzheimer's

The News:
Blood test accurate on Alzheimer's
While larger studies are needed to verify results, Satoris' test was correct 91 percent of the time in predicting who'll get the disease. Sales could begin in 2008.
By Steve Johnson San Jose Mercury News
Article Last Updated: 10/15/2007 12:24:40 AM MDT
SAN JOSE, CALIF. — A San Francisco company's blood test shows promise in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease - as well as predicting who will succumb to the brain-disabling ailment - according to researchers at Stanford University and several other institutions.
For a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine, the test developed by Satoris was used to examine more than 200 samples of blood taken from people diagnosed with Alzheimer's and others unaffected by the disease.
The U.S. and European scientists also checked blood drawn from people with mild cognitive impairments two to six years before the patients developed Alzheimer's.
The test - which spots Alzheimer's by detecting unusual activity in 18 proteins associated with the disease - was determined to be 90 percent correct in diagnosing the malady and 91 percent accurate in predicting who will be afflicted by it, according to the study.
"It's quite exciting," said Dr. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, who didn't participate in the study.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature Medicine.