Multi-analyte prognostic and diagnostic screening in blood and skin for Alzheimer's disease

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Neurodegenerative disorders are usually detected by protein biomarkers. Current conventional methods employed for diagnosing neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer Disease (AD) and dementia include imaging and extraction of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and monitoring of biomarkers. These methods have several drawbacks which include:1.lumbar puncture for collection of CSF from the spinal cord is an invasive treatment with potential side effects2. screening of patients is often difficult and follow-up analysis of the same patient over several years is problematic3. these methods are time consuming and marred by low throughput and need for specialist personnel and equipment, making it an expensive procedure to be employed for routine check-ups4. a large increase in the number of cases every year further compounds the issue of early diagnosis and treatment To address the above we propose the development of alternative diagnosis and screening method based on employing known biomarkers albeit in different samples matrices such as capillary blood and skin interstitial fluid. Both capillary blood and skin interstitial fluid are in constant equilibrium with venous blood. The main advantages of proposed methods include:1.Capillary blood can be accessed using lancet whilst skin interstitial fluid can be accessed in a minimally invasive manner employing microneedle array patch 2. screening of patients for several biomarkers in simpler settings such as a Clinicians' practice or even home settings is easier, it also allows follow-up analysis over several years 3. development of low cost diagnostic kits based on capillary blood and skin interstitial fluid will facilitate early diagnosis and screening of large number of people making it an affordable procedure for healthcare systems4. development of low cost kits based on capillary blood and skin interstitial fluid can also address the issue of large increase of numbers, globally