Patent ID: 8658134
Filing Date: 2014-02-25
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of diagnosing Alzheimer's Disease in a human subject comprising the steps of (a) obtaining one or more fibroblast cells from a human subject; (b) culturing the one or more fibroblast cells for a time period to achieve cell aggregation, wherein the one or more fibroblast cells are cultured in a protein mixture comprising an extracellular matrix preparation chosen from laminin, collagen, heparin sulfate proteoglycans, entactin/nidogen, and/or combinations thereof; (c) determining the average area of cell aggregates and dividing the average area by the number of aggregates to obtain the area per number of aggregates; (d) comparing the determination of step (c) with the area per number of aggregates determined using non-Alzheimer's Disease cells; and (e) diagnosing the presence or absence of Alzheimer's Disease based on the comparison in step (d), wherein the diagnosis is positive for Alzheimer's Disease if the area per number of aggregates determined in step (c) is greater than the area per number of aggregates determined using the non-Alzheimer's Disease cells.