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Overview

There exists both clinical and scientific rationale for the use of metabolomic profiling of biomarkers for the diagnosis of early sporadic (non-familial) Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other forms of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases (ND) including Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

Oxidative stress (OS) and free radical-mediated damage to proteins, lipids and nucleic acids have been convincingly demonstrated in the brains, and more recently in blood and other peripheral tissues, of ND patients. Scientists at Molecular Biometrics have shown that oxidative modification of blood proteins can be readily detected using its technology platform of metabolomic profiling.

The Molecular Biometrics Solution

Specifically, application of biospectroscopy to small volumes of human plasma revealed metabolomic signatures that were unique to patients with early sporadic AD, MCI, Parkinson disease (PD) and normal elderly controls (NEC). The measurement of OS biomarkers offers a promising new approach to the diagnosis of ND and appears to be superior to other diagnostic approaches in terms of accuracy and cost-effectiveness.

Dr. Hyman M. Schipper is a founder of Molecular Biometrics. His observations helped innovate the use of vibrational spectroscopy of blood plasma samples for the minimally-invasive diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease and other human neurodegenerative disorders.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Alzheimer’s Disease is a dementing illness characterized by progressive neuronal degeneration, glial cell scarring, and the accumulation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloid (senile) plaques in discrete brain regions governing memory, attention, language, visuospatial abilities, and executive functions

Idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD)
Idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD) is a movement disorder characterized by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, formation of a-synuclein-containing fibrillar inclusions (Lewy bodies) within this cell population, and depletion of various other monoaminergic neurons elsewhere in the neuraxis. Resting tremor, rigidity, hypokinesia and postural instability are the cardinal symptoms of this common neurodegenerative disorder.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
The term MCI is applied to elderly individuals who experience gradual cognitive decline of at least six months duration that fails to meet strict clinical criteria for AD or other dementia. Approximately 50% of MCI subjects will progress to probable AD over an ensuing 3-5 year period.

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