• New Mayo Clinic Approach Could Lead to Blood Test to Diagnose Alzheimer’s

Blood offers promise as a way to detect Alzheimer's disease at its earliest onset. Mayo Clinic researchers say they envision a test that would detect distinct metabolic signatures in blood plasma that are synonymous with the disease — years before patients begin showing cognitive decline.

Mayo Clinic pharmacologist and co-author Eugenia Trushina, Ph.D., says, "We want to use these biomarkers to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear — which can be decades before people start exhibiting memory loss. The earlier we can detect the disease, the better treatment options we will be able to offer."

The study was recently published online in the journal PLOS ONE.

Read entire news release: Alzheimer's Blood Test

Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Trushina are available in the downloads