Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute in the US have published research that outlines technology which detects molecules specific to Alzheimer's in a patient's blood.
Melbourne University Professor Ashley Bush says the new American technology could be useful.
"They've shown, that at least on a small scale, it can pick a big difference between Alzheimer's disease and normal people," he said.
"But we've already had several tools at our disposal that can see such differences.
"What we really need is to show whether or not it can make a prediction from a normal person before they become symptomatic with Alzheimer's disease - to be able to determine whether the change that's seen occurs early enough so that it can tell us that years down the track they're going to be developing the symptoms."
Professor Bush is also the co-director of the Australian Imaging, Biomarkerand Lifestyle Flagship Study (AIBL), which is monitoring 1,100 Australians as they age, by taking blood samples and measuring brain performance.
Professor Bush believes it is the biggest study being undertaken by any country and hopes it will lead to the development of a predictive blood test for Alzheimer's in the next five to 10 years.
He says he and his colleagues are acutely aware of the urgent need for the blood test.
"Alzheimer's disease is going to be a social climate change for us," he said.
"There are so many people coming down with the disease because of the successful ageing of the population.
"Being old is pretty common nowadays and it's only going to become more common.
"It's estimated that if things don't change, if we don't have a disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease it's going to drain about 3 per cent of the country's wealth by the year 2050 when over a million people will be affected by it."
The American research is being published in today's edition of scientific journal Cell.
By Samantha Donovan
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