Diagnosing 'Alzheimer's Dementia' Using Nasal Discharge

Alzheimer's Protein Detected in Nasal Mucus
Early Diagnosis Kit Using Nasal Mucus Under Development

If biomarkers indicating a risk of Alzheimer's dementia are detected above a certain level in nasal mucus, patients visit specialized hospitals to undergo detailed examinations such as brain imaging and receive expert care. This allows many individuals at risk of Alzheimer's dementia to receive early professional management, significantly reducing social costs.

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A new technology that can early screen Alzheimer's dementia patients using nasal mucus has been developed by domestic researchers. It is expected to be spotlighted as the next-generation technology for dementia diagnosis, as it allows for simple dementia diagnosis while also predicting the severity of dementia progression in the future.

The research team led by Professor Moon Je-il of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology announced on the 22nd that they recently introduced a related paper on this technology in the international journal Scientific Reports.

Diagnosing Alzheimer's Dementia Using Nasal Mucus

Amyloid-beta (Aβ) aggregate formation in nasal mucus progresses from 12 mer (Aβ*56) to 15 mer (AβO) as Alzheimer's dementia advances, allowing differentiation of the progression stage. Notably, among subjects with the same cognitive test scores, those with higher expression levels of 12 mer (Aβ*56) showed a faster progression of Alzheimer's dementia after 3 years.

The research team identified that the expression level of Amyloid-beta (Amyloid-β) aggregates, a key biomarker of Alzheimer's dementia, increases in the nasal mucus of dementia patients.

The team focused on the fact that olfactory dysfunction appears in the early stages of dementia. Subsequently, by analyzing nasal mucus samples from patients, they confirmed the detection of Amyloid-beta aggregates. They then conducted immunoblot analysis comparing dementia patient groups with mild, moderate, and severe cognitive decline to age-matched control groups, finding that the dementia patient groups showed significantly increased expression of Amyloid-beta aggregates.

In particular, the research team conducted a three-year longitudinal cohort study to observe the progression of dementia symptoms in participating patients. As a result, they confirmed that patients with higher aggregate expression experienced further deterioration in cognitive function. This demonstrated that the amount of aggregates could indicate increased severity in the future progression of Alzheimer's dementia.

Technology to Replace High-Cost Dementia Diagnosis

Professor Il Moon-il, majoring in Brain Cognitive Science (left), and Go-un Son, first author and integrated master's and doctoral course student (right)

The research team expects this technology to be utilized for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia. Dementia diagnosis currently requires expensive brain imaging or cerebrospinal fluid sampling, which involves patient discomfort. Consequently, despite the importance of early diagnosis, many cases miss the treatment window. However, since there is currently no fundamental cure for dementia, it is a disease that requires early detection to delay symptom progression.

Currently, South Korea has seen the number of dementia patients rise to 820,000 alongside aging. Among these dementia patients, 70% have Alzheimer's dementia. Annual management costs for dementia patients amount to 16 trillion won, and this cost is projected to increase up to eight times by 2025.

Professor Moon Je-il stated, "Many people miss the golden time needed for early dementia management," adding, "We are developing an early screening kit using the results of this research, and we hope to reduce social costs by conducting early tests at a low cost."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.