Background Blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) might facilitate identification of participants for clinical trials targeting amyloid beta (Abeta) accumulation, and aid in AD diagnostics. We examined the potential of plasma markers Abeta(1-42/1-40), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light (NfL) to identify cerebral amyloidosis and/or disease severity. Methods We included individuals with a positive (n = 176: 63 ± 7 years, 87 (49%) females) or negative (n = 76: 61 ± 9 years, 27 (36%) females) amyloid PET status, with syndrome diagnosis subjective cognitive decline (18 PET+, 25 PET−), mild cognitive impairment (26 PET+, 24 PET−), or AD-dementia (132 PET+). Plasma Abeta(1-42/1-40), GFAP, and NfL were measured by Simoa. We applied two-way ANOVA adjusted for age and sex to investigate the associations of the plasma markers with amyloid PET status and syndrome diagnosis; logistic regression analysis with Wald’s backward selection to identify an optimal panel that identifies amyloid PET positivity; age, sex, and education-adjusted linear regression analysis to investigate associations between the plasma markers and neuropsychological test performance; and Spearman’s correlation analysis to investigate associations between the plasma markers and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA). Results Abeta(1-42/1-40) and GFAP independently associated with amyloid PET status (p = 0.009 and p < 0.001 respectively), and GFAP and NfL independently associated with syndrome diagnosis (p = 0.001 and p = 0.048 respectively). The optimal panel identifying a positive amyloid status included Abeta(1-42/1-40) and GFAP, alongside age and APOE (AUC = 88% (95% CI 83–93%), 82% sensitivity, 86% specificity), while excluding NfL and sex. GFAP and NfL robustly associated with cognitive performance on global cognition and all major cognitive domains (GFAP: range standardized β (sβ) = − 0.40 to − 0.26; NfL: range sβ = − 0.35 to − 0.18; all: p < 0.002), whereas Abeta(1-42/1-40) associated with global cognition, memory, attention, and executive functioning (range sβ = 0.22 – 0.11; all: p < 0.05) but not language. GFAP and NfL showed moderate positive correlations with MTA (both: Spearman’s rho> 0.33, p < 0.001). Abeta(1-42/1-40) showed a moderate negative correlation with MTA (Spearman’s rho = − 0.24, p = 0.001). Discussion and conclusions Combination of plasma Abeta(1-42/1-40) and GFAP provides a valuable tool for the identification of amyloid PET status. Furthermore, plasma GFAP and NfL associate with various disease severity measures suggesting potential for disease monitoring.

Plasma phospho-tau (p-tau) species have emerged as the most promising blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Here, we performed a head-to-head comparison of p-tau181, p-tau217 and p-tau231 measured using 10 assays to detect abnormal brain amyloid-β status and predict future progression to Alzheimer's dementia. The study included 135 patients with baseline diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (mean age 72.4 years; 60.7% women) who were followed for an average of 4.9 years. Seventy-one participants had abnormal Aβ-status (i.e., abnormal CSF Aβ42/40) at baseline; and 45 of these Aβ-positive participants progressed to Alzheimer's dementia during follow-up. P-tau concentrations were determined in baseline plasma and CSF. P-tau217 and p-tau181 were both measured using immunoassays developed by Lilly Research Laboratories (Lilly) and mass spectrometry assays developed at Washington University (WashU). P-tau217 was also analysed using Simoa immunoassay developed by Janssen Research and Development (Janss). P-tau181 was measured using Simoa immunoassay from ADxNeurosciences (ADx), Lumipulse immunoassay from Fujirebio (Fuji) and Splex immunoassay from Mesoscale Discovery (Splex). Both p-tau181 and p-tau231 were quantified using Simoa immunoassay developed at the University of Gothenburg (UGOT). We found that the mass spectrometry-based p-tau217 (p-tau217WashU) exhibited significantly better performance than all other plasma p-tau biomarkers when detecting abnormal Aβ status (AUC = 0.947; pdiff &lt; 0.015) or progression to Alzheimer's dementia (AUC = 0.932; pdiff &lt; 0.027). Among immunoassays, p-tau217Lilly had the highest AUCs (0.886-0.889), which was not significantly different from the AUCs of p-tau217Janss, p-tau181ADx and p-tau181WashU (AUCrange, 0.835-0.872; pdiff &gt; 0.09), but higher compared with AUC of p-tau231UGOT, p-tau181Lilly, p-tau181UGOT, p-tau181Fuji, and p-tau181Splex (AUCrange, 0.642-0.813; pdiff ≤0.029). Correlations between plasma and CSF values were strongest for p-tau217WashU (R = 0.891) followed by p-tau217Lilly (R = 0.755; pdiff = 0.003 vs p-tau217WashU) and weak to moderate for the rest of the p-tau biomarkers (Rrange, 0.320-0.669). In conclusion, the findings suggest that among all tested plasma p-tau assays, mass spectrometry-based measures of p-tau217 perform best when identifying mild cognitive impairment patients with abnormal brain Aβ or those who will subsequently progress to Alzheimer's dementia. Several other assays (p-tau217Lilly, p-tau217Janss, p-tau181ADx, and p-tau181WashU) showed relatively high and consistent accuracy across both outcomes. The results further indicate that the highest performing assays have performance metrics that rival the gold standards of Aβ-PET and CSF. If further validated, our findings will have significant impacts in diagnosis, screening and treatment for Alzheimer's dementia in the future.

Introduction Amyloid, Tau, and neurodegeneration biomarkers can stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Synaptic biomarkers may help track cognition. Methods In cognitively normal controls, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and AD, we investigated CSF biomarkers in relation to cognitive measures and as predictors of cognitive and global decline. Results There were 90 normal controls (mean age 73.0, 58% women), 57 MCI (mean age 74.3, 35% women), and 46 AD (mean age 70.7, 41% women). CSF Aβ1‐42 and Neuronal Pentraxin 2 (NPTX2) were decreased, and CSF Tau, neurogranin, and SNAP25 increased in AD versus controls. Aβ1‐42/Tau or NPTX2/Tau discriminated AD and controls best. NPTX2/Tau correlated strongly with cognition in AD and MCI and predicted a 2–3‐year decline. We replicated findings in the ADNI cohort. Discussion CSF synaptic biomarkers, particularly NPTX2, which regulates synaptic homeostasis, relate to cognition and predict progression in AD beyond Aβ1‐42 and Tau. This is relevant for prognosis and clinical trials.

Introduction Studies using different assays and technologies showed highly promising diagnostic value of plasma phosphorylated (P-)tau levels for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aimed to compare six P-tau Simoa assays, including three P-tau181 (Eli Lilly, ADx, Quanterix), one P-tau217 (Eli Lilly), and two P-tau231 (ADx, Gothenburg). Methods We studied the analytical (sensitivity, precision, parallelism, dilution linearity, and recovery) and clinical (40 AD dementia patients, age 66±8years, 50%F; 40 age- and sex-matched controls) performance of the assays. Results All assays showed robust analytical performance, and particularly P-tau217 Eli Lilly; P-tau231 Gothenburg and all P-tau181 assays showed robust clinical performance to differentiate AD from controls, with AUCs 0.936–0.995 (P-tau231 ADx: AUC = 0.719). Results obtained with all P-tau181 assays, P-tau217 Eli Lilly assay, and P-tau231 Gothenburg assay strongly correlated (Spearman’s rho > 0.86), while correlations with P-tau231 ADx results were moderate (rho < 0.65). Discussion P-tau isoforms can be measured robustly by several novel high-sensitive Simoa assays.

Introduction: Direct comparisons of the main blood phosphorylated tau immunoassays in memory clinic populations are needed to understand possible differences. Methods:In the BIODEGMAR study, 197 participants presenting with cognitive complaints were classified into an Alzheimer's disease (AD) or a non-AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) profile group, according to their amyloid beta 42/ phosphorylated tau (Aβ42/p-tau) ratio. We performed a head-to-head comparison of nine plasma and nine CSF tau immunoassays and determined their accuracy to discriminate abnormal CSF Aβ42/p-tau ratio.Results: All studied plasma tau biomarkers were significantly higher in the AD CSF profile group compared to the non-AD CSF profile group and significantly discriminated abnormal CSF Aβ42/p-tau ratio. For plasma p-tau biomarkers, the higher discrimination accuracy was shown by Janssen p-tau217 (r = 0.76; area under the curve[AUC] = 0.96), ADx p-tau181 (r = 0.73; AUC = 0.94), and Lilly p-tau217 (r = 0.73; AUC = 0.94).Discussion: Several plasma p-tau biomarkers can be used in a specialized memory clinic as a stand-alone biomarker to detect biologically-defined AD.