The key to properly treating Alzheimer's disease has always been diagnosing it early enough. And now, early detection of the dread ailment may be more possible than ever thanks to a group of researchers from Rowan University.

The team was led by Dr. Robert Nagele from the university’s School of Osteopathic Medicine and Durin Technologies. Nagele has announced the development of a blood test that leverages the body's immune response system to detect an early stage of Alzheimer's disease - referred to as the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage - with unparalleled accuracy. In a "proof of concept" study involving 236 subjects, the test demonstrated an overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity rate of 100 percent in identifying subjects whose MCI was actually caused by an early stage of Alzheimer's disease.

"About 60 percent of all MCI patients have MCI caused by an early stage of Alzheimer's disease. The remaining 40 percent of cases are caused by other factors, including vascular issues, drug side-effects and depression. To provide proper care, physicians need to know which cases of MCI are due to early Alzheimer's and which are not," said Cassandra DeMarshall, the study's lead author. "Our results show that it is possible to use a small number of blood-borne autoantibodies to accurately diagnose early-stage Alzheimer's."

The researchers presented their results in an article published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. The test was also disease-specific. It readily distinguished early Alzheimer's at the MCI stage from other diseases including Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and early stage breast cancer.

Nagele added that it is believed that “Alzheimer’s related changes,” occur in the brain at least ten years before common symptoms begin to show.

According to the authors, early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and the ability to stage the disease through a simple blood test would offer many potential benefits. Patients could possibly delay disease progression through lifestyle adjustments, begin treatment sooner and plan future medical care. Clinicians would have a way to measure the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention and clinical trials could enroll patients who were truly at the earliest stage of their disease.

The researchers say that a larger study will be needed to verify whether or not their method will be a viable one for detecting Alzheimer’s, but they do believe that their test could lead to earlier treatments that could offset the impact that the disease has on those who are suffering from it and for families with loved ones who develop it.