Alzheimer's disease is a leading degenerative brain disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. The problem is that it is hard to notice in the very early stages. By the time symptoms such as memory decline or problems with judgment become clear, brain damage has often already progressed to some extent. That is why the medical community has been steadily seeking ways to detect Alzheimer's at an earlier stage, before symptoms appear.
Researchers at the Duke University School of Medicine reported that a simple test that gently swabs the inside of the nose to collect cells can capture early biological changes associated with Alzheimer's. The study was published in Nature Communications on the 18th.
Blood tests to aid Alzheimer's diagnosis are also being developed, but they often look for markers that tend to appear after the disease has progressed to some extent.
The team focused on the very top of the nose, the nasal cavity where the nerve cells that detect odors are clustered. The researchers first sprayed a local anesthetic into the nose, then used a small brush-like tool to collect cells from this area. The test itself took only a few minutes, and 22 people participated in the study.
Analyzing the collected nerve and immune cells to see which genes were active, the team found a distinct pattern that distinguished people with early Alzheimer's or those already diagnosed from healthy individuals. In particular, they were able to identify people who had not yet shown symptoms such as memory or cognitive decline but had test evidence that Alzheimer's-related changes had begun.
The researchers said that using a "gene score" that integrates multiple genetic signals from the nasal cells, they could distinguish people with early Alzheimer's or clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's from healthy individuals with about 81% accuracy.
Bradley J. Goldstein, a professor at the Duke University School of Medicine, said, "We need to be able to identify Alzheimer's at a very early point before damage accumulates in the brain," and added, "If we can diagnose early enough, there is a possibility of starting treatments that prevent progression to clinical Alzheimer's."
The team plans to validate accuracy and reproducibility in a larger group and to study whether a swab can be used to track treatment effects for Alzheimer's over time.
References
Nature Communications (2026), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70099-7