CNN recently featured Dr. Richard Isaacson for his expert perspective on emerging Alzheimer’s blood testing and the potential role of pTau217 in earlier detection of the disease. The article explores recent research and what these findings may mean for patients and clinicians.

Excerpt:

Insights from Alzheimer’s blood tests are invaluable, but results should not be the sole method of identifying disease risk, said Alzheimer’s prevention researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson, director of research at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Florida. He was not involved in the study.

“Never would I order a p-tau217 test in isolation. Why? For one, it tells you only one small part of what is most often a complicated biological picture,” said Isaacson, who runs multiple blood and cognitive tests on his patients to double-check p-tau217 results.

“Also, ordering a single test increases the chance of a less meaningful result, like a false positive,” he said. “If someone has a cold, if someone has kidney dysfunction, it can skew results.”

Instead of just using p-tau217 and amyloid blood tests for diagnosis, Isaacson runs them to look for clues on how people are responding to treatment and lifestyle changes, he said.

“In our lab, we are exploring using these tests as a real-time metric, like an engine light,” Isaacson said. “If you have one or two copies of APOE4 and APOE4 protein levels are high, you can put the right fuel in the car — nutrition, exercise, stress management and the rest — and do preventive maintenance to lower your proteins.”