People with a rare genetic form of Alzheimer's, whose specific genetic mutations guarantee that they will develop the disease, tended to show signs of amyloid plaques in PET scans and cerebrospinalfluid 10 to 20 years before the onset of symptoms.
To this end, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), established by America's National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2004, is measuring the levels of certain proteins in the cerebrospinalfluid of people who may have Alzheimer's or may go on to develop it.