Blood test trial aims to ‘revolutionise’ diagnosis of dementia

People living in and around Southampton will be offered new dementia blood tests as part of a national trial.

Currently, around a third of patients with dementia never get a formal diagnosis.

The hope is that these blood test will help people access care and support at an earlier stage, when new drug treatments will be most effective.

These projects are led by University College London and the University of Oxford. They will involve around 5,000 volunteers at memory clinics across the UK.

Professor Chris Kipps and his research group at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) are part of the local team, alongside Dr Jay Amin, Associate Professor in Psychiatry of Older Age at the University of Southampton.

Preparing the NHS

The five-year project will study blood tests for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The aim is to provide the evidence needed to prove these blood tests are ready for use in the NHS.

It is the combination of two complementary projects - the Blood Biomarker Challenge led by University College London, and Dementias Platform UK at the University of Oxford.

Currently, most people are diagnosed using memory tests and brain scans. These are less accurate than ‘gold standard’ tests like PET scans or lumbar punctures, which can confirm what type of dementia they have. However, only 2% of people can access these specialist tests.

Blood tests could provide a much easier way to diagnose people quickly and accurately at an earlier stage. This will help people access care and support, but also means the NHS is ready if new treatments are approved. This is because these treatments work best for people at the earliest stage.

Prof Kipps is a Consultant Neurologist and Clinical Director for Research and Development at UHS. He is also Professor of Clinical Neurology and Dementia at the University of Southampton.

He said: “This research is essential to prepare the NHS for the groundbreaking new drug treatments that are on the horizon. Since dementia gets worse over time, we need to be able to give these treatments at the earliest possible stage, when they are most effective.

“We can best do this if we know people are at an early stage of dementia. Blood tests could make this possible at the scale required, and allow more people to get the care and support they need.”

‘Revolutionising’ dementia diagnosis

People in Southampton will be able to take part in either the READ-OUT or ADAPT trials.

READ-OUT will trial blood tests for many different types of dementia. These include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies.

ADAPT will assess a test for p-tau217, the most promising biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease. This can be used to determine the levels of two hallmark proteins of the disease, amyloid and tau.

Dr Amin, said: “I am delighted to be involved in this incredibly important research study, that will identify a blood test that can diagnose the different causes of dementia.

“In recent years, a number of different blood tests that can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia have shown very promising results in research settings. But they have yet to be tested widely in clinical settings in the UK.

“Our local team, which spans across the Memory Assessment and Research Centre and the University of Southampton, will recruit participants into this study, along with dozens of memory clinics across the UK. We hope that, together, we will revolutionise how a diagnosis of dementia is made.”

You can register your interest in taking part in dementia trials at Join Dementia Research.

For more information about the Blood Biomarker Challenge, please visit www.dementiasplatform.uk.