SUN CITY, Ariz. (May 28, 2026) – Banner Sun Health Research Institute is leading new science showing that a blood-based biomarker panel may one day provide a rapid, inexpensive and non-invasive way for researchers and physicians to identify Alzheimer’s disease patients at increased risk for brain swelling or bleeding associated with new anti-amyloid therapies, according to findings recently published in Acta Neuropathologica.
The study leverages Banner’s pioneering Fluid Biomarker Program — one of the few facilities worldwide that both develops and engineers blood-based diagnostics at scale — and the institute's Brain and Body Donation Program, where more than 3,000 community volunteers have contributed to scientific efforts since 1987.
The research provides proof-of-concept that researchers can identify blood-based biomarkers for cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a condition linked to the serious side effects some patients experience when taking new Alzheimer’s medications. The findings lay the foundation for more precise use of these therapies, according to lead author Alpana Singh, PhD, postdoctoral fellow with the fluid biomarker program.
“This is the first study to identify a panel of plasma biomarkers that, if validated through further research, could one day predict risk for CAA,” Dr. Singh said. “This could help us identify individuals at risk for developing the abnormalities seen in the brain scans of some people receiving the new anti-amyloid therapies and who therefore would not be good candidates for clinical trials or prescription medications.”
CAA is a condition in which amyloid protein accumulates in the walls of blood vessels in the brain. Evidence points to CAA as a major driver of fluid buildup, swelling and bleeding – so-called amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) – seen in brain scans of people taking the new Alzheimer’s medications, which work by removing amyloid protein from the brain. In clinical trials of anti-amyloid therapies, ARIA-related brain swelling has been reported in approximately 12% to 40% of patients, while small brain bleeds have been observed in about 14%.
Currently, MRI scans and other imaging provide the only ways to identify probable CAA and monitor for ARIA, and they miss about 20% to 30% of abnormalities. “These modalities are expensive, need specialized infrastructure and expert personnel to assess and evaluate the images, and clinician interpretation of images can vary,” Dr. Singh said.
The study drew on blood samples and data from participants in the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders and Brain and Body Donation Program at Banner Sun Health Research Institute, which has been ongoing since 1997. These volunteer participants commit to annual clinical assessments during life and agree to donate their brain and body after death — contributions that are essential to research progress because obtaining tissue samples from living patients is rarely possible. The research team used blood samples taken five years or less before participants’ death. The team showed that a panel of five plasma biomarkers – CRP, IL4, CCL11, PDLIM5 and NPY – could discriminate CAA cases from non-CAA cases with a positive predictive value of 93% and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.90, demonstrating robust discriminatory performance. These biomarkers are associated with inflammation, vascular function and neurodevelopmental processes in the brain.
“The combination of high predictive value and strong discriminatory performance provides encouraging early evidence that this biomarker panel may be capable of reliably distinguishing CAA cases from non-CAA cases,” said study co-author Nicholas Ashton, PhD, senior director of the fluid biomarker program. “Further development and validation are needed, but this study underscores the promise that blood-based tests could one day provide an effective and simpler way to predict risk for serious side effects of Alzheimer’s drugs. As anti-amyloid therapies become more widely studied and used, such tools are urgently needed.”
The research team did not directly test whether the biomarker panel predicts ARIA in patients receiving anti-amyloid therapies, Dr. Singh cautioned. The next steps involve validating the findings in other independent cohorts.
About Banner Sun Health Research Institute
Since 1986, Banner Sun Health Research Institute, part of nonprofit Banner Health, has been a leader nationally and internationally in the effort to find answers to disorders of aging including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The institute’s Cleo Roberts Center for Clinical Research takes laboratory discoveries to clinical trials that foster hope for new treatments. Banner Health is Arizona’s leading health care provider and largest private employer. For more information, visit bannershri.com or visit us on Facebook.
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