Diagnostic Test for Alzheimer's Disease

A rapid in vitro test that requires only a few drops of blood is designed as a screening tool to aid the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The test, intended for use in the office of a family doctor or specialist, was introduced at MEDICA 2001 in Dusseldorf (Germany).

The test, called Nexus Dx, is for the determination of glutamine synthetase (GS), an enzyme, in human whole blood. The developer of the test, Syn-x Pharma (Mississauga, Canada), has shown that the determination of GS in this assay is a highly specific and highly sensitive brain biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. The company notes that preliminary data have been accepted for publication in Clinical Chemistry.

Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease and no definite means of diagnosing the disease without a brain biopsy or an autopsy. Several drugs have been approved for treating the disease and are thought to slow progression and improve symptoms. Treatments must begin early in the disease, however, to slow or minimize the damage associated with Alzheimer's. Syn-x Pharma utilizes its Proteomics Discovery Platform to identify protein targets for the development of new drugs and to deliver highly specialized antibody-based diagnostics.




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