Could a cell phone game detect who is at risk of Alzheimer's?

Could a cell phone game detect who is at risk of Alzheimer's?

by Lauren Sharkey

An Alzheimer's diagnosis often relies on signs of memory problems. However, these issues usually do not appear until years after the disease has taken hold. A new smartphone game is using spatial navigation to detect Alzheimer's before it is too late.

Genetic testing revealed that 31 of the participants in the smaller group had the APOE4 gene. Carriers of this gene are almost three times more likely than other people to develop Alzheimer's disease, and it tends to appear when they are younger.

When the team compared the lab group data with the benchmark data, they could distinguish between those with and without the APOE4 gene based on the way that they played Sea Hero Quest.

Those with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's "took less efficient routes to checkpoint goals" and "performed worse on spatial navigation tasks," notes Prof. Michael Hornberger from the UEA, who is the lead researcher. "This is really important because these are people with no memory problems."

Waiting until someone demonstrates memory issues to diagnose Alzheimer's may be too late, adds Prof. Hornberger, because such symptoms occur "when the disease is quite advanced."

"[E]merging evidence shows that subtle spatial navigation and awareness deficits can precede memory symptoms by many years."

Hmm. That reads as though they have found a way to detect the presence of a gene known to predispose people to Alzheimer's by getting them to play a computer game, which sounds like a rather pointless exercise. Why not just test directly for the gene?

I assume that they're really looking for a way to detect the presence of early-stage Alzheimer's, and that being able to detect people with this gene is consistent with having done that. The sceptic in me says they would also need to know whether the presence of the gene itself (regardless of whether Alzheimer's developed) correlated with spatial navigation abilities. But maybe I should stop thinking and just applaud, or something.