Description: Scientists have zeroed in on blood biomarkers that could someday help doctors predict who's at risk for Alzheimer's disease. They might even help guide treatment, the U.S. researchers added.

These biomarkers, called cytokines, are all hallmarks of heightened inflammatory responses. Cytokines specific to Alzheimer's disease were found in greater numbers on white blood cells called mononuclear cells.

Higher concentrations of inflammatory markers in the blood have been linked to Alzheimer's disease before. But other conditions of old age, such as heart disease and arthritis, can also trigger inflammation, the researchers pointed out.

However, the newly discovered markers point specifically at Alzheimer's disease-linked inflammation in the brain, the scientists said.

That's important, because right now "there's no single blood test or neuroimaging study -- CT scan or MRI -- that can reliably predict whether somebody has Alzheimer's disease, m