April 18, 2003

MGH/BWH study identifies Alzheimer's associated changes in the eye

A research team led by investigators from the MGH and BWH has discovered that amyloid-beta (A-beta), the protein that forms plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, also can be detected in the lens of the human eye. The investigators were able to identify A-beta in lens samples from elderly individuals with and without the disorder. An unusual pattern of amyloid deposits, however, was found only on the lenses of Alzheimer's patients. The observation, published in the April 12 issue of The Lancet, could lead to the development of a non-invasive test to diagnose and track the development of the devastating brain disorder.

The researchers examined samples of brain tissue and lenses taken from nine people who had died with Alzheimer's disease and from eight patients who died with other neurodegenerative disorders. While A-beta was found in all of the lenses studied in concentrations similar to that found in brain tissue samples, a distinctive pattern of A-beta deposits was found in the outer, peripheral portion of the lenses of only Alzheimer's patients.

"Development, testing and effective implementation of any new anti-Alzheimer's therapy requires a safe and effective means of diagnosing and monitoring disease progress," says Lee Goldstein, MD, PhD, the paper's lead author and a member of the MGH Genetics and Aging Research Unit and the Laboratory for Oxidation Biology. "If patients at risk of developing the disease could be identified early and accurately, ideally before cognitive symptoms emerge, therapeutic interventions can be instituted before the onset of irreparable damage to the brain."

Leo T. Chylack, Jr., MD, director of the BWH Center for Ophthalmic Research, and Ashley Bush, MD, director of the MGH Laboratory for Oxidation Biology, are senior co-authors of the report. Other MGH co-authors are Rudolph Tanzi, PhD; Robert Moir, PhD; Xudong Huang, PhD; Jennifer Coccia, Kyle Faget and Karlotta Fitch.