Blood circRNAs may predict Alzheimer’s before symptoms emerge

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260702/Blood-circRNAs-may-predict-Alzheimere28099s-before-symptoms-emerge.aspx?utm_source=news_medical_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alzheimer_s_disease_newsletter_9_july_2026 A blood-based circRNA signature could help identify early Alzheimer’s biology and progression risk, offering a promising new layer beyond amyloid and tau testing. In a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers identified circular ribonucleic acids (circRNAs) in blood with high predictive value for biomarker-confirmed early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis. Combining these circRNAs with established markers, such as phosphorylated tau-217 (pTau217), yielded the highest predictive ability. These findings suggest that circRNA investigations could eventually complement blood-based AD biomarker panels to identify people with early AD biology or elevated progression risk. However, the findings need to be validated in larger, diverse prospective clinical cohorts.