Researchers from The Florey Institute have evaluated a new diagnostic blood test for Alzheimer's disease, demonstrating its reliability in detecting the presence and stage of the condition.

This development brings the medical community closer to a tool for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.

Plasma pTau217 blood tests, which have been previously established as accurate in identifying Alzheimer's disease, are not yet available for clinical application.  

However, a study published in eBioMedicine has now assessed the performance of this test using the Lumipulse-G platform, a device already used globally for other clinical diagnostics but not yet approved for pTau217 tests. 

Japanese diagnostics company Fujirebio owns the Lumipulse-G Plasma pTau217 and anticipates it to be the first commercially available blood-based in vitro diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease assessment in the US.  

Professor Christopher Rowe from The Florey is the senior author of the study and the clinical lead of Dementia Mission. 

Rowe said that the test was "highly reliable" when used with Lumipulse equipment. 

He commented: “We compared patients’ blood test results with a PET scan and found that plasma pTau217 not only confirms whether somebody has Alzheimer’s disease, but whether they are at intermediate or advanced stage versus earlier stages.”  

The data were derived from patient samples and PET scans provided to the Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) and the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of ageing.  

With these findings, patients are now closer to having access to an affordable test that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease accurately at an early stage which is a crucial timing given that treatments for early disease are currently under development. 

Co-first author Azadeh Feizpour said: “With a new generation of drugs emerging to treat Alzheimer’s disease, detecting a person’s stage of disease is going to be important.”