Biomarker in urine -the first to reveal early-stage Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease can remain undetected until it is too late to treat. Large-scale screening programs could help to detect early-stage disease, but current diagnostic methods are too cumbersome and expensive. Could a simple urine test reveal if someone has early-stage Alzheimer's disease and could this pave the way for large-scale screening programs?

A new study published to Frontiers is the first to identify formic acid as a sensitive urinary biomarker that can reveal early-stage Alzheimer's disease, potentially paving the way for inexpensive and convenient disease screening.

The researchers tested a large group of patients with Alzheimer's disease of different levels of severity and healthy controls with normal cognition to identify differences in urinary biomarkers.

They found that urinary formic acid is a sensitive marker of subjective cognitive decline that may indicate the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Current methods to diagnose Alzheimer's are expensive, inconvenient, and unsuitable for routine screening. This means that most patients only receive a diagnosis when it is too late for effective treatment. However, a non-invasive, inexpensive, and convenient urine test for formic acid could be just what the doctor ordered for early screening.

Alzheimer's disease is a continuous and concealed chronic disease, meaning that it can develop and last for many years before obvious cognitive impairment emerges. The early stages of the disease occur before the irreversible dementia stage, and this is the golden window for intervention and treatment. Therefore, large-scale screening for early-stage Alzheimer's disease is necessary for the elderly.

Urinary formic acid showed an excellent sensitivity for early Alzheimer's screening. "The detection of urine biomarkers of Alzheimer's is convenient and cost-effective, and it should be performed during routine physical examinations of the elderly.

Reference:

Biomarker in urine could be the first to reveal early-stage Alzheimer's disease; Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2022.1046066.