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Scientists comment on the launch of a trial by LifeArc to test whether a finger prick test could be used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms begin.
Prof Andrew Doig, Professor in Biochemistry, University of Manchester, said:
“Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is currently routinely diagnosed by cognitive tests, such as measuring our ability to form new memories. We know, however, that our brains can start to head down the track to AD decades before any memory problems are apparent. In the last few years, new antibody-based drugs have become available for AD. Their benefits are small, as all they can do is slow down the progression of the disease, rather than stop or reverse it. It is likely that these drugs would be more effective if they could be given to patients at an earlier date.
“The difficulty with giving AD drugs at an earlier time is that it is very hard to diagnose AD at its earliest stages. State-of-the-art methods include PET brain scans, which are expensive and not widely available, or analysing cerebrospinal fluid taken by a painful lumbar puncture. Analysing blood is therefore a much more attractive idea.
“The new trial described here will analyse three proteins, namely tau 217 (pTau217), Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Neurofilament light polypeptide (NfL). We already know that the levels of these proteins in blood change in AD. Looking at one of these proteins in isolation is not very reliable, however. It therefore makes a lot of sense to measure all three and combine their blood concentrations to get a more accurate indication of whether someone is heading towards AD. Hopefully, we will find that a simple and cheap blood test can be just as reliable as PET scans or analysing cerebrospinal fluid.
“If work like this is successful, screening blood for AD biomarkers could become more widespread than the current limited accessibility of PET scans and lumbar punctures. We then might identify those at the earliest stages of AD, enabling slowing or even stopping progression of the disease, bringing enormous benefits to patients, carers and society.”
Prof Tara Spires-Jones, Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, Division Lead in the UK Dementia Research Institute, and Past President of the British Neuroscience Association, said:
“Over the past few years, there has been enormous progress in developing blood tests to detect the brain changes in early Alzheimer’s disease. This study will take this project further using samples from finger-pricks. The blood test in this study looks for 3 proteins, phosphorylated tau protein which indicates Alzheimer’s disease pathology building up in the brain, GFAP, a marker of brain inflammation, and neuro filament light chain protein which is a marker of neurodegeneration. While the blood biomarkers are extremely good at detecting some early brain changes that occur in Alzheimer’s disease, these early changes do not always guarantee that people will go on to develop dementia. Thus these are not a simple blood test for Alzheimer’s although they will be extremely useful for research studies and for future clinical trials.”
Prof B. Paul Morgan, Director, UK Dementia Research Institute Cardiff, Cardiff University, said:
“The announcement of the Bio-Hermes-002 study led by LifeArc is an important step on the path to better, cheaper and more readily available predictive tests for Alzheimer’s.
“Currently, the best predictive or diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s required expensive and scarce brain scans or invasive spinal taps to obtain cerebrospinal fluid for testing. The recent discovery of highly predictive tests using blood plasma has changed the outlook, offering the prospect of cheap and simple screening and monitoring for Alzheimer’s in the at-risk population.
“The Bio-Hermes-002 study will measure in 1000 subjects a set of blood markers that together have shown promise as disease predictors and compare the test results with a comprehensive set of brain scans and cognitive tests in these same individuals to determine whether the blood tests alone provide a sensitive and specific way of detecting early changes of Alzheimer’s disease.
“If successful, then the blood test could be widely used in at-risk populations to identify those with incipient Alzheimer’s who would most benefit from current and future treatments, including lifestyle interventions and the recent crop of amyloid-targeting drugs.”
Prof Paresh Malhotra, Head of Division of Neurology, Imperial College London, said:
“This study is testing the use of blood obtained from a fingerprick to look for markers of Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common cause of dementia. There has already been a great deal of work done using blood tests for Alzheimer’s, showing that these really are very accurate, and there are currently two major ongoing studies in the UK evaluating how these might be implemented in NHS settings. If the tests become available via a fingerpick too, this will further increase their availability, potentially leading to the possibility of home testing. It is critical to remember that these types of test do not diagnose or determine whether someone has dementia but they help diagnose the cause of dementia where it has been identified, and can help indicate risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease for people who do not have thinking problems at the moment. So it is only through combining the results of these tests with careful evaluation of thinking and the ability to carry out everyday tasks that we can accurately identify dementia and then diagnose the underlying cause.”
Dr Amanda Heslegrave, Principal Research Fellow, UKDRI Fluid Biomarker Laboratory and Biomarker Factory, UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), UCL, said:
Is this exciting – do we need to wait for more evidence or data first?
“Yes this is exciting – the importance of this particular study is that LifeArc are partnering with the Biohermes study which collects lots of data and test on participants so we can see if the results correlate with other indicators of Alzheimer’s disease. A lot of work is currently being done to validate finger prick samples and the results are really encouraging.
Do the presence of these proteins always reliably come before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis?
“We know there are signs of some proteins in blood that indicate that Alzheimer’s disease processes are happening in the brain up to 20 years before symptom occur – the ability to screen for these proteins in a cheap minimally invasive way could potentially be a game changer when we have safe therapies to prevent disease from ever taking hold.
Are there caveats to be aware of?
“Alzheimers is one form of dementia – there are many others – this test so far would indicate the presence of amyloid proteins specific to Alzheimer’s disease, there is still lots of work to be done.”
Dr Susan Kohlhaas, Executive Director of Research & Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“We welcome the Bio-Hermes-002 study, which is exploring whether a simple finger-prick blood test could be used to screen for the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear. We know these changes can begin up to 15 years before memory problems are detected, creating a long window where the disease is present but unseen.
“As dementia research moves towards earlier detection and diagnosis, it is increasingly important to be able to identify people who may be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, so they can be offered further assessment and the opportunity to take part in research. With more clinical trials now focusing on the earliest stages of disease and even prevention in some cases, scalable screening approaches like this could one day play a vital role in making that possible.”
Prof Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said:
“Blood tests could revolutionise dementia diagnosis. Currently, brain scans and lumbar punctures are time-consuming, uncomfortable, and not widely available across the UK. Getting an accurate diagnosis takes far too long and one in three people in the UK with dementia do not have a diagnosis.
“With new treatments on the horizon, early and accurate diagnosis must be a priority for the NHS. That’s why we’re funding work to bring blood tests for dementia to the NHS, so everyone who would benefit from a diagnosis can get one quickly and accurately.”
LifeArc press release: https://www.lifearc.org/2026/finger-prick-blood-test-alzheimers-disease/
Declared interests
Prof Andrew Doig: Andrew Doig has also worked on blood-based diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease. This was in collaboration with a start-up company from his lab called PharmaKure.
Prof Tara Spires-Jones: “I have no conflicts with this study but have received payments for consulting, scientific talks, or collaborative research over the past 10 years from AbbVie, Sanofi, Merck, Scottish Brain Sciences, Jay Therapeutics, Cognition Therapeutics, Ono, Novo Nordisk, and Eisai, and direct a company Spires-Jones Neuroscience, Ltd to act as a consultant. I am also Charity trustee for the British Neuroscience Association and the Guarantors of Brain and serve as scientific advisor to several charities and non-profit institutions.”
Prof B. Paul Morgan: “I have no conflicts to declare.”
Prof Paresh Malhotra: “I have received research funding from NIHR, MRC, Dementia Platforms UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, British Heart Foundation , the Dementia Trials Accelerator, Lifearc and Alzheimer’s Society. I have led for an NIHR-funded trial with drug/placebo provided by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. I am a trustee for the Alzheimer’s Society, am an Associate Member of the UK Dementia Research Institute, and am the National Specialty Lead for Dementia and Neurodegeneration in the NIHR Research Delivery Network. I practise clinically at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and also carry out a fortnightly private clinic at Cleveland Clinic London.”
Dr Amanda Heslegrave: “I consult for Quanterix (Biomarker platform company that is used in this study).”
Dr Susan Kohlhaas: “Susan has no declarations of interest.”
Prof Fiona Carragher: “No interests to declare.”