Landmark Proteomics Study Aims to Detect Alzheimer’s and Other Diseases Years Before Symptoms Appear

Alzheimer’s disease could potentially be identified up to ten years earlier, thanks to the world’s largest study on blood proteins. The UK-based research project, set to launch this month, will explore how diseases such as cancer and dementia develop, paving the way for blood tests that could detect these conditions well before symptoms arise.

Early data from this groundbreaking study has already shown that elevated protein levels can predict the onset of dementia up to ten years in advance and certain cancers seven years before a formal diagnosis. The UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project is seen as a potential game-changer in healthcare, with experts suggesting it could revolutionise medical research and diagnostics by the end of the decade.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, chief executive of UK Biobank, explained, “This study will provide valuable insights into how lifestyle, genetics, and environment interact with proteins to influence the development of diseases. It will help identify individuals at risk far earlier, enabling preventive measures before the onset of illness.”

The research will focus on how changes in protein levels, influenced by factors such as genetics, lifestyle, and environment, contribute to the development of diseases. There is also potential to develop faster and more precise blood tests for autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.

Proteomics, which involves studying the function and structure of proteins, is key to understanding how they contribute to disease. Science Minister Lord Patrick Vallance hailed the project as a transformative initiative, calling it a “new era of possibilities.”

The project is an expansion of a pioneering pilot study, which analysed nearly 3,000 proteins from the blood samples of 54,000 UK Biobank participants. The newly scaled-up study, supported by a consortium of 14 major pharmaceutical companies, aims to analyse over 5,000 proteins from 600,000 samples. These samples include those taken from participants 15 to 20 years ago, as well as more recent samples from a cohort of 100,000 individuals.

Professor Naomi Allen, UK Biobank’s chief scientist, highlighted the significance of the pilot data, which showed that specific proteins could be detected up to seven years before the clinical diagnosis of certain cancers and up to ten years before a dementia diagnosis.

“The possibility of developing simple blood tests that can detect diseases at an earlier stage is now closer to reality,” Allen said. “For Alzheimer’s, a test measuring certain proteins could help identify patients early, allowing them to benefit from treatments designed for the initial stages of the disease.”

The project has attracted significant funding from pharmaceutical giants like Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and GSK. The initial phase will focus on measuring protein levels in 300,000 samples, with the data expected to be shared with approved researchers starting in 2026. The full dataset is anticipated to be available on the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform by 2027.