Blood tests open up the possibility of early diagnosis of brain disease...It can be repeatedly tested at a low cost
Jan 16, 2025
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A research team led by Professor Moon Ji-sook of the Department of Bioengineering at Cha Medical University (first author Yoo-ri Choi, corresponding author Moon Ji-sook) has confirmed that APLP1 is a key biomarker for early diagnosis of brain diseases after finding that the 'Amyloid precursor-like protein 1 (APLP1)' is expressed specifically in the brain. Biomarkers are indicators that can detect changes in the body using cells, blood vessels, proteins, and DNA in the body.
Based on the characteristics that extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted to the outside for cell-to-cell information exchange, the research team found that APLP1 is expressed in brain-derived EVs through experiments. Subsequently, experiments were conducted on several cells detected in the brain to determine the versatility of APLP1, and it was confirmed that APLP1 was detected in each brain cell. In addition, brain function-associated proteins and messenger RNAs were identified in APLP1 isolated from blood. This means that APLP1 can be used to diagnose various brain diseases.
The possibility of utilization of APLP1 in glioblastoma, one of the malignant brain tumors, was also verified. Blood analysis of brain tumor patients showed that the expression level of APLP1 was higher than that of conventional biomarkers (L1CAM, etc.), and the number of extracellular vesicles responding to APLP1 increased compared to the normal group. This means that APLP1 protein had a higher response and sensitivity to detection of extracellular vesicles than conventional biomarkers.
The research team found that using APLP1 can diagnose degenerative brain diseases easier and faster than before
Professor Moon Ji-sook said "APLP1 allows early screening of brain diseases as well as many times at low cost."When APLP1 is combined with other proteins, it will be possible to diagnose various brain diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease early."
The study was published in the January issue of the international journal 'Advanced Science' under the title of 'Blood-derived APLP1+ extracellular vesicles are potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of brain diseases (IF: 11.7)'.
Meanwhile, this study was conducted as part of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea Research Foundation's Convergence Research and Development Project (STEAM Research Project), and the Korea Institute of Basic Science and Support's exosome-based bio-new drug analysis technology development project.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
