ADEVs Kit (Early Detection of Alzheimer’s: Developing an innovative Blood-Based Diagnostic Kit Using Neuronal Evs)

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. Despite recent FDA-approved drugs, their effectiveness is limited and only evident when administered early.

Research indicates that AD-related changes can begin up to 20 years before symptoms appear, making early detection crucial. Current AD diagnostic tests measure Abeta and tau proteins via advanced brain imaging or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling. However, many patients are reluctant to undergo CSF sampling, and brain imaging requires expensive equipment that is not widely available. Thus, a cost-effective, repeatable blood test would be a significant advancement. The objective of our project is to develop a sandwich ELISA diagnostic kit for the prognosis and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using plasma samples. This kit will be based on a capture antibody against the transmembrane protein GABRA1 or the transmembrane protein GluR2, both of which have a highly specific expression pattern in neurons compared to L1CAM and have been shown to be present in EVs. By employing an antibody against the extracellular domain of GABRA1 or GluR2 to capture plasma-derived neuronal EVs, along with detection antibodies targeting monomeric or oligomeric Abeta42, p-181 Tau, and total tau, we aim to identify the optimal combination of antibodies that provide the strongest discriminatory power for diagnosing AD. This project is an award from the 2024 Call «Ajuts d’Indústria del Coneixement» ) with the support of AGAUR and Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya.