An elevated blood biomarker for Alzheimer's disease
According to
studies, a novel blood-based biomarker called brain-derived tau can detect
Alzheimer's disease-specific neurodegeneration and distinguish it from
dementias that are related to it.
According to
research published in the journal Brain, the new biomarker performed better
than existing blood tests used to clinically detect neurodegeneration
associated to Alzheimer's disease.
While providing a more straightforward method of evaluation, brain-derived tau showed good correlation with indicators for Alzheimer's neurodegeneration in cerebrospinal fluid.
The results
could be the final element needed to deliver a complete set of blood-based
biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease.
According to
the senior author Thomas Karikari, an associate professor of psychiatry at the
University of Pittsburgh, "Neuroimaging is now required for the diagnosis
of Alzheimer's disease."
Even in the
United States, many patients lack access to MRI and PET scanners because they
are costly and difficult to arrange. A significant problem is accessibility.
According to the AT(N) standards established in 2011 by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's disease is now diagnosed in the United States.
This depends
on recognized cerebrospinal fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers and needs the
identification of the three pathological manifestations of Alzheimer's disease:
amyloid plaques (A), tau tangles (T), and neurodegeneration (N) in the brain.
It has already been established that blood-based amyloid-beta and phosphorylated (p)-tau biomarkers are diagnostically reliable and correlate well with the related cerebrospinal fluid and neuroimaging biomarkers.
Neurofilament
light (NfL), a blood-based neurodegenerative marker, is not, however, exclusive
to Alzheimer's disease.
The fact
that blood total (t)-tau primarily comes from peripheral, non-brain sources may
explain why it does not correlate well with cerebrospinal fluid total (t)-tau.
The capabilities of the novel biomarker were then investigated in five other research cohorts, totaling 609 people.
The
researchers was able to distinguish neurochemically defined Alzheimer's disease
from a biomarker-negative control group and demonstrated that brain-derived tau
was distinct to Alzheimer's disease.
Additionally,
even in cases where there was neuropathological proof, it was able to identify
Alzheimer's disease from other neurodegenerative illnesses.
The new
biomarker was linked to cognition, AT(N) biomarkers in cerebral fluid, and the
severity of plaque and tangle diseases at autopsy.
The most thoroughly tested blood biomarker for neurodegeneration, NfL, cannot distinguish between Alzheimer's disease and other dementias due to its rise in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, the researchers write.
So far,
there is no blood biomarker that is particularly changed as a result of
Alzheimer-type neurodegenerative alterations, similar to how plasma p-tau is
linked tau phosphorylation/pathology in the AT(N) framework.
They go on
to say that their findings "indicate that plasma tau [blood-derived] may
be a biomarker that is specific for Alzheimer's disease-type. There is
currently no blood biomarker that is specifically altered as a result of
Alzheimer-type neurodegenerative abnormalities in the dementia research field
since plasma p-tau is to tau phosphorylation/pathology in the AT(N) framework.
According to
their findings, blood-derived plasma tau may be a biomarker unique to the
Alzheimer's disease subtype.
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