Blood Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

Blood-based biomarkers offer a major advance in the clinical evaluation of neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, research studies have reported robust assays of blood markers for the detection of amyloid and tau pathologies specific to Alzheimer’s disease (Aß peptides, p-tau), as well as non-specific blood markers of neuronal (neurofilament light, ß-synuclein, ubiquitin-C-terminal-hydrolase-L1) and glial degeneration (glial fibrillary acidic protein) that can measure key pathophysiological processes in several neurodegenerative diseases. In the near future, these markers may be used for screening, diagnosis or disease and treatment response monitoring. Blood-based biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases have been rapidly implemented in research, and they have the potential to enter clinical use soon in different clinical settings. In this review, we will describe the main developments and their potential implications for the general neurologist.

Diagnostic performance of plasma Aβ1-42, Aβ1-40and pTau181in the LUMIPULSE automated platform for the detection of Alzheimer disease

“…The implications of implementing plasma biomarkers in primary care centers remain to be defined. While it has the potential to enhance the identification of patients at risk of neurodegenerative diseases, the possible consequences of positive results in asymptomatic individuals, as well as the risk of false positives, must be considered [4,18].…”

“…The measure of AD biomarkers in blood through reliable high-throughput platforms would simplify the diagnostic process. This is now technically possible thanks to the development of sensitive technologies that can consistently quantify brain-derived molecules that are present in blood in very low concentrations [2][3][4]. Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and different isoforms of phosphorylated tau (pTau) in blood have shown high accuracy to detect AD pathophysiology in previous research studies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

FibrilPaint to determine the length of Tau amyloids in fluids

“…Regarding tracers for Htt, those have only been tested in ex vivo samples (Delva et al, 2022; Herrmann et al, 2021). Recently, fluid-based biomarkers emerged as novel diagnosis tools (Alcolea et al, 2023; Hansson et al, 2022; Teunissen et al, 2022). These markers provide valuable information about diagnosis, disease stage and progression.…”

“…Regarding tracers for Htt, those have only been tested in ex vivo samples (Delva et al, 2022;Herrmann et al, 2021). Recently, fluid-based biomarkers emerged as novel diagnosis tools (Alcolea et al, 2023;Hansson et al, 2022;Teunissen et al, 2022). These The peptide-nature of FibrilPaint1 is biocompatible and can be further functionalised to develop a tracer for neurodegenerative diseases at early stages.…”

Biomarkers in Alzheimer Disease

“…In the Research Article entitled “Blood Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Implications for the Clinical Neurologist,” Dr. Alcolea et al 1 reviewed the medical literature and summarized a large and rapidly expanding area of research: the use of biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases. These illnesses tend to progress very slowly over time and cause problems with thinking, memory, movement, language, and judgment.…”