Urine Test Aids Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

According to a new study, a urine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that measures the levels of neural thread protein (NTP) in the brain can help doctors diagnose Alzheimer's disease and monitor disease progression. The findings are reported in the January 2002 issue of Neurology & Clinical Neurophysiology.

The study, involving 122 patients, found that the level of NTP measured by the test increased with the severity of the disease. Patients diagnosed with early stage disease had significantly lower NTP readings than patients with later stage disease. The study also showed that the test format for urine samples can accurately distinguish Alzheimer's disease from nonAlzheimer's diseases.

The assay, called AlzheimAlert, was developed by Nymox Pharmacuetical Corp. (Maywood, NJ, USA). The company is developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other diseases. One program targets NTP and its role in the extensive brain cell loss associated with Alzheimer's disease. Another program is based on spherons, which Nymox researchers regard as a source of the senile plaques characteristically found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Nymox researchers believe that stopping or inhibiting the transformation of spherons into senile plaques will stop or slow the progression of Alzheimer's.

"The correlation of NTP levels with disease stage reinforces the evidence linking overproduction of NTP in the brain to the devastating course of this deadly illness,” said Michael Munzar, M.D., medical director of Nymox. "It also supports our drug development program targeting NTP.”




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