A blood test developed in Italy could help predicting and preventing Alzheimer's Disease (AD), local researchers said on Monday.

Researchers at the Catholic University in Rome and at the Fatebenefratelli hospitals of Rome and Brescia, who conducted the study, said in a statement that free copper circulating in the blood can have a toxic effect on the brain, and thus become a target for preventative treatment.

The test measured levels of "free" or labile copper in blood plasma, showing that subjects with higher levels had a hazard conversion rate, or 50 percent of conversion in four years, that was about three times higher than those with lower values, or less than 20 percent in four years.

In recent years, numerous studies have found that copper was playing an important role in roughly 60 percent of AD patient cases, the researchers noted.

Hence the new blood test has offered the prospect of preventing AD by lowering the concentration of copper in the blood for at-risk subjects, although currently there is no cure for the neurological degenerative disease, Rosanna Squitti, a researcher at the Fatebenefratelli hospital of Rome, said.

She said that the Italian team has submitted a request for funding to the European Union (EU) specifically to test the effectiveness of therapies that settle the normal levels of copper.

The results of the study, which was published in the journal Annals of Neurology on Monday, have also encouraged healthy lifestyle choices and dietary intervention to modify this risk, Squitti added.