Results of a new study suggest that a simple blood test could be the key to predicting Alzheimer's Disease.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that by injecting mice with an antibody, blood levels of amyloid-beta protein -- which forms neuron-destroying plaque in the brain -- were directly related to the amount of plaque forming in the brain.

Although normally found in the body, the protein build-up can form plaques in the brain, causing gradual loss of memory and bodily function, eventually leading to death.

Currently, Alzheimer's is detectable only through an autopsy, and the study's authors aren't sure if their recent findings will work on humans.

If so, it potentially would provide a non-invasive way to predict Alzheimer's up to 20 years before the first symptoms appear, by identifying the tendency to form protein plaques at an extremely early stage of the disease.

Researchers say it will take at least five years to prove the test's value in humans.

Other sources: Science Magazine