"To improve the diagnostic process, a wide variety of techniques and specimen types have been the subject of investigation, including brain imaging techniques and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (Frank et al., 2003), but the associated costs and procedural risk limit their widespread use. In contrast, venous puncture is a widely accepted low risk, low cost specimen collection procedure. Therefore, a blood-based test for AD diagnosis would be favorable, provided such a test complies with conditions for an “ideal” AD biomarker as outlined in the Consensus Report of the Working Group on: “Molecular and Biochemical Markers of Alzheimer's Disease” (Consensus Report of the Working Group, 1998). In that regard, the collection and analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes could potentially fulfill this unmet clinical need."

Multivariate analysis of differential lymphocyte cell cycle activity in Alzheimer's disease