A new study found that platelet activity at middle age could be helpful in identifying people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease decades ahead of time.
The “blood-clotting process in vascular dysfunction,” which is “a condition in which blood vessels do not function properly,” is “linked to key markers of Alzheimer’s as early as midlife.” One of the mechanisms by which vascular dysfunction may contribute to risk of Alzheimer’s is “platelet aggregation, the process by which platelets or small blood cells form a clot.”
The scientists linked the “platelet aggregation response in the blood to positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain markers of Alzheimer’s disease risk in middle-aged people. The breakthrough could have broad implications for both diagnosing the disease and identifying new therapies at an early stage of aging, many years before Alzheimer’s symptoms are evident.”
Up to “75% of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s also show vascular pathology, and 25% of patients with vascular dementia over the age of 75 show amyloid pathology, an indicator of increased risk of Alzheimer’s.” The research team involved with this study measured platelet aggregation in study participants and then evaluated “associations between platelet aggregation and amyloid and tau – the hallmark proteins of Alzheimer’s – on PET and MRI brain scans.”
The results of the study “indicated a positive link: People whose platelets clump together more strongly also tend to have higher levels of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain.” Further, certain “features of the platelets in midlife may be tied to early brain changes linked to the disease.”
