The invention relates to an improved method for predicting the onset of, diagnosing, prognosticating and/or treating dementing diseases. The method comprises determining the level of heme oxygenase-1 suppressor (HOS) activit y and/or factor in tissue or body fluid obtained from a patient, and comparing said level with the corresponding level of HOS activity and/or factor in corresponding tissue or body fluid obtained from at least one control person . The tissue or body fluid is suitably blood, plasma, lymphocytes, cerebrospin al fluid, urine, saliva, epithelia or fibroblasts. The method is useful where t he dementing disease is any of Alzheimer Disease, Age-Associated Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Parkinson disease with dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Vascular (i.e. multi-infarct) Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Huntington's Disease, Down's syndrome, normal pressure hydrocephalus, corticobasal ganglionic degeneration, multisystem atrophy, he ad trauma, neurosyphilis, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease and other prion diseases, HI V and other encephalitides, and metabolic disorders such as hypothyroidism and vitamin B12 deficiency. The method may also prove useful in differentiating the 'pseudodementia' of depression from Alzheimer disease.
HO-1 SUPPRESSOR AS A DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC TEST FOR DEMENTING DISEASES