Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
A easy blood take a look at for platelet exercise at center age may in the future assist establish individuals in danger for Alzheimer’s illness many years forward of time, permitting for doable preventive remedy.
The blood-clotting course of in vascular dysfunction is linked to key markers of Alzheimer’s as early as midlife, exhibits a research co-led by researchers at The Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Illnesses at UT Well being San Antonio, the educational well being middle of The College of Texas at San Antonio, and the New York College Grossman Faculty of Medication.
The paper is revealed within the journal Neurology.
Vascular dysfunction refers to a situation during which blood vessels don’t perform correctly, with quite a few causes from irregular blood clots to atherosclerosis, irritation, diabetes, hypertension, smoking and age. It’s usually acknowledged as contributing to the chance of Alzheimer’s and associated dementias, however the underlying mechanisms have been unclear.
The group led by the Biggs Institute and NYU identifies a type of mechanisms—platelet aggregation, the method by which platelets or small blood cells type a clot.
Particularly, the scientists hyperlink the platelet aggregation response within the blood to positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) mind markers of Alzheimer’s illness threat in middle-aged individuals. The breakthrough may have broad implications for each diagnosing the illness and figuring out new therapies at an early stage of getting old, a few years earlier than Alzheimer’s signs are evident.
“We believe that since platelets are easy to obtain in the blood, they could eventually become part of midlife screening to identify people at risk and apply preventive interventions targeting platelet-related inflammation,” stated Sudha Seshadri, MD, professor of neurology, founding director of the Biggs Institute and senior creator of the research.
Vascular element of Alzheimer’s
A vascular element of Alzheimer’s illness has been mentioned for the reason that Sixties, however a key limitation in defining it has been its frequent overlap with cerebrovascular illness, the research notes.
As much as 75% of sufferers identified with Alzheimer’s additionally present vascular pathology, and 25% of sufferers with vascular dementia over the age of 75 present amyloid pathology, an indicator of elevated threat of Alzheimer’s.
The brand new research analyzed 382 dementia-free individuals with a mean age of 56 enrolled within the Framingham Coronary heart Examine, a long-term and ongoing community-based observational research of residents in Framingham, Massachusetts, courting to 1948.
Researchers had beforehand recognized that amongst middle-aged Framingham individuals freed from anti-platelet remedy, platelet aggregation was independently related to the chance of incident dementia throughout a 20-year follow-up, adjusting for potential demographic and medical variables.
So scientists this time sought an affiliation between platelet aggregation and precise Alzheimer’s biomarkers at midlife.
The Framingham research has one of many largest repositories of platelet aggregation knowledge and Alzheimer’s biomarkers obtainable. And PET imaging, a nuclear drugs method that makes use of radioactive tracers to create detailed photographs of organs and tissues within the physique, was acquired along with MRI from a big subsample of middle-aged individuals in Framingham’s third-generation cohort.
The analysis group measured platelet aggregation within the Framingham individuals utilizing a number one laboratory take a look at for diagnosing platelet dysfunction referred to as gentle transmission aggregometry (LTA). Then, they evaluated associations between platelet aggregation and amyloid and tau—the hallmark proteins of Alzheimer’s—on PET and MRI mind scans.
The outcomes indicated a optimistic hyperlink: Individuals whose platelets clump collectively extra strongly additionally are inclined to have greater ranges of amyloid and tau proteins within the mind, that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s illness.
Nonetheless, this hyperlink is not the identical for everybody.
“The relationship shows up in people whose platelets are at the lowest end of the activity scale with the experiments that were used,” stated Alexa Beiser, professor of biostatistics on the Boston College Faculty of Public Well being who has been working with Framingham knowledge for many years and performed a elementary function within the statistical evaluation of the research. “In that group, stronger platelet clumping goes hand-in-hand with more amyloid and tau on brain scans. For people with higher platelet activity, the relationship is less clear.”
Nonetheless, the scientists concluded that circulating platelets within the blood could supply early clues to Alzheimer’s threat—maybe many years earlier than signs seem—with the info suggesting that sure options of the platelets in midlife could also be tied to early mind adjustments linked to the illness.
“Our study underscores the need to further clarify the role of platelet-mediated inflammation in brain aging disorders and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in particular,” stated Jaime Ramos-Cejudo, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at NYU, and first creator of the research. “This may open new opportunities for interventions many years before symptoms are evident. We believe platelets may represent a unique bridge between vascular dysfunction and brain inflammation.”
Extra data:
Jaime Ramos-Cejudo et al, Affiliation of Platelet Aggregation With Markers of Alzheimer Illness Pathology in Center-Aged Members of the Framingham Coronary heart Examine, Neurology (2025). DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000214314
Supplied by
College of Texas at San Antonio
Quotation:
Blood-platelet screening in midlife may establish early threat for Alzheimer’s illness (2025, November 10)
retrieved 11 November 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-11-blood-platelet-screening-midlife-early.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.
