 Executive Health 
 
 Early Steps Toward an Alzheimer's Blood Test 
 
 Different immune system proteins exist in the blood of people with the disease, study finds 
 
 THURSDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- A blood test that screens for antibodies, a protein produced by the immune system, may one day be used to detect Alzheimer's and other diseases, new research suggests. Typically, in developing blood tests for diseases, researchers have searched for antigens -- that is, proteins from a virus, bacteria or other disease process such as cancer or neurological conditions like Alzheimer's -- that set off an immune response. "In Alzheimer's, or in a disease such as cancer, it's not at all obvious what the initiating event is," he said. Rather than search for the elusive antigen, researchers did "high throughput" screening using thousands of synthetic molecules, called peptoids, that would bind with the antibodies. Comparing blood samples from six Alzheimer's patients, six healthy people and six Parkinson's disease patients, the researchers found that two of the thousands of synthetic molecules "captured" at least three-fold more immunoglobulin (IgG) antibodies from all six of the Alzheimer's patients than from either the healthy controls or the Parkinson's patients. SOURCES: Thomas Kodadek, Ph.D., professor, chemistry and cancer biology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Fla; Jeremy Koppel, M.D., Alzheimer's research scientist, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, N.Y.; Jan. 7, 2011, Cell 
 
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– Researchers say they've found another possible way to detect Alzheimer's, this time through a blood test that looks for antibodies. Though still under development, a diagnostic kit could be available within the year, reports Reuters. The catch: While scientists are getting better at detecting Alzheimer's with such discoveries, they still can't cure the disease. "It's unclear whether people would want to know a couple of years ahead of time they are going to get Alzheimer's if they can't do anything about it," says a scientist with the Scripps Research Institute. "But I can say with some certainty that we will never get a good therapy for Alzheimer's without early diagnosis." More details here on the science involved in the blood test, which could theoretically work on other diseases such as cancer.