RESEARCH FORUM: A new C&RL News column

Plasma Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of Available Assays, Recent Developments, and Implications for Clinical Practice

“…The recently available, fully automated Lumipulse G System® (Lumipulse, Fujirebio, Ghent, Belgium) plasma test, a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay, is an example of a new technique paving the way to replace the need for lumbar puncture and neuroimaging in AD diagnostic workups [1]. The FDA recently approved its version for CSF analyses for clinical use [9,31].…”

“…Two recent head-to-head studies attempted to address this issue. Janelidze et al compared plasma A␤ 42/40 ratio measurements from eight different assays [26] and of p-tau181, p-tau217, and p-tau231 measured by ten different assays [31] to detect abnormal brain A␤ deposition and future progression to AD dementia. MS-based methods performed better than immunoassays to measure plasma A␤ 40 and A␤ 42 across all studied cohorts and for different outcome measures [26].…”

“…Another study focusing on p-tau biomarkers showed that MS-based methods had the best analytical performance, especially for the plasma p-tau217 [31]. The findings from head-to-head studies show that the MS-based methods may show, to date, the most accurate and reliable platforms to analyze plasma biomarkers of AD.…”

“…Evidence has been mounting as plasma biomarkers present consistent results providing useful prognostic information in the AD continuum. Recent advances in the development of plasma A␤ and plasma p-tau assays may profoundly impact the field in the next few years [26,31,118]. These biomarkers already outperform clinical evaluation in predicting outcomes of subjects with SCD and MCI [50].…”