Newborn Babies and Alzheimer’s Patients Have This Surprising Thing in Common.
Newborns and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease have been found to share an unusual biological feature: both show high levels of a well-established Alzheimer’s biomarker.
What do newborns and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease have in common?
According to a recent study led by first author Fernando Gonzalez-Ortiz and senior author Professor Kaj Blennow at the university of bothenburg both groups show elevated levels of a specific protein in their blood: phosphorylated tau, specifically the variant known as p-tau217.
This protein is widely recognized as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, where its increased presence in the blood is believed to result from the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein into amyloid plaques.
Since newborns do not exhibit these pathological changes, the elevated p-tau217 levels seen in infants likely stem from a completely different and entirely healthy developmental process.
In a large-scale international study involving researchers from Sweden, Spain, and Australia, blood samples from over 400 individuals were analyzed.
These included healthy newborns, premature infants, young adults, older adults, and people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
The results showed that newborns had the highest concentrations of p-tau217—levels that even surpassed those in Alzheimer’s patients.
The highest levels were observed in premature infants, and these gradually declined during the first months of life, eventually reaching levels typical of adults.
First time in the blood of newborns
Studies using animal models had suggested that phosphorylated tau might play a role in early brain development.
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