Eyes May Predict Alzheimer’s Disease

In that Down’s Syndrome patients often develop  symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease before the age of 30 years, Lee Goldstein, from Boston University School of Medicine (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues have found that the specific Alzheimer’s brain protein, amlyoid beta, develops at a very early stage in the eyes of Down’s Syndrome patients, with the protein then leading to the formation of cataracts. Explaining that the lens of the eye provides a window to the brain, the team suggests that the same amyloid beta protein that accumulates in the brain may also collect in the eye tissue of Down’s patients, writing that “ these results establish the genetic etiology of the distinctive lens phenotype in [Down’s Syndrome] and identify the molecular origin and pathogenic mechanism by which lens pathology is expressed …  Moreover, these findings confirm increased [amlyoid beta ] accumulation as a key pathogenic determinant linking lens and brain pathology in both [Down’s Syndrome] and [Alzheimer’s Disease].” The researchers are hopeful that a technology to scan the eye to measure amyloid beta protein levels may lead to a method to reliably detect Alzheimer’s Disease at an early stage.