| 1. |
- Eratne, D., et al.
(author)
-
Cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain differentiates primary psychiatric disorders from rapidly progressive, Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal disorders in clinical settings
- 2022
-
In: Alzheimers & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 18:11, s. 2218-2233
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction Many patients with cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms face diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis. We investigated whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neurofilament light (NfL) and total-tau (t-tau) could assist in the clinical scenario of differentiating neurodegenerative (ND) from psychiatric disorders (PSY), and rapidly progressive disorders. Methods Biomarkers were examined in patients from specialist services (ND and PSY) and a national Creutzfeldt-Jakob registry (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease [CJD] and rapidly progressive dementias/atypically rapid variants of common ND, RapidND). Results A total of 498 participants were included: 197 ND, 67 PSY, 161 CJD, 48 RapidND, and 20 controls. NfL was elevated in ND compared to PSY and controls, with highest levels in CJD and RapidND. NfL distinguished ND from PSY with 95%/78% positive/negative predictive value, 92%/87% sensitivity/specificity, 91% accuracy. NfL outperformed t-tau in most real-life clinical diagnostic dilemma scenarios, except distinguishing CJD from RapidND. Discussion We demonstrated strong generalizable evidence for the diagnostic utility of CSF NfL in differentiating ND from psychiatric disorders, with high accuracy.
|
|
| 2. |
- Eratne, D., et al.
(author)
-
Plasma neurofilament light in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia compared to mood and psychotic disorders
- 2023
-
In: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. - 0004-8674. ; 58:1, s. 70-81
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Blood biomarkers of neuronal injury such as neurofilament light (NfL) show promise to improve diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders and distinguish neurodegenerative from primary psychiatric disorders (PPD). This study investigated the diagnostic utility of plasma NfL to differentiate behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, a neurodegenerative disorder commonly misdiagnosed initially as PPD), from PPD, and performance of large normative/reference data sets and models. Methods: Plasma NfL was analysed in major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 42), bipolar affective disorder (BPAD, n = 121), treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS, n = 82), bvFTD (n = 22), and compared to the reference cohort (Control Group 2, n = 1926, using GAMLSS modelling), and age-matched controls (Control Group 1, n = 96, using general linear models). Results: Large differences were seen between bvFTD (mean NfL 34.9 pg/mL) and all PPDs and controls (all < 11 pg/mL). NfL distinguished bvFTD from PPD with high accuracy, sensitivity (86%), and specificity (88%). GAMLSS models using reference Control Group 2 facilitated precision interpretation of individual levels, while performing equally to or outperforming models using local controls. Slightly higher NfL levels were found in BPAD, compared to controls and TRS. Conclusions: This study adds further evidence on the diagnostic utility of NfL to distinguish bvFTD from PPD of high clinical relevance to a bvFTD differential diagnosis, and includes the largest cohort of BPAD to date. Using large reference cohorts, GAMLSS modelling and the interactive Internet-based application we developed, may have important implications for future research and clinical translation. Studies are underway investigating utility of plasma NfL in diverse neurodegenerative and primary psychiatric conditions in real-world clinical settings.
|
|
| 3. |
- Brum, Wagner S., et al.
(author)
-
A two-step workflow based on plasma p-tau217 to screen for amyloid β positivity with further confirmatory testing only in uncertain cases
- 2023
-
In: Nature Aging. - 2662-8465. ; 3:9, s. 1079-1090
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cost-effective strategies for identifying amyloid-beta (A beta) positivity in patients with cognitive impairment are urgently needed with recent approvals of anti-A beta immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Blood biomarkers can accurately detect AD pathology, but it is unclear whether their incorporation into a full diagnostic workflow can reduce the number of confirmatory cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or positron emission tomography (PET) tests needed while accurately classifying patients. We evaluated a two-step workflow for determining A beta-PET status in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from two independent memory clinic-based cohorts (n = 348). A blood-based model including plasma tau protein 217 (p-tau217), age and APOE epsilon 4 status was developed in BioFINDER-1 (area under the curve (AUC) = 89.3%) and validated in BioFINDER-2 (AUC = 94.3%). In step 1, the blood-based model was used to stratify the patients into low, intermediate or high risk of A beta-PET positivity. In step 2, we assumed referral only of intermediate-risk patients to CSF A beta 42/A beta 40 testing, whereas step 1 alone determined A beta-status for low-and high-risk groups. Depending on whether lenient, moderate or stringent thresholds were used in step 1, the two-step workflow overall accuracy for detecting A beta-PET status was 88.2%, 90.5% and 92.0%, respectively, while reducing the number of necessary CSF tests by 85.9%, 72.7% and 61.2%, respectively. In secondary analyses, an adapted version of the BioFINDER-1 model led to successful validation of the two-step workflow with a different plasma p-tau217 immunoassay in patients with cognitive impairment from the TRIAD cohort (n = 84). In conclusion, using a plasma p-tau217-based model for risk stratification of patients with MCI can substantially reduce the need for confirmatory testing while accurately classifying patients, offering a cost-effective strategy to detect AD in memory clinic settings.
|
|
| 4. |
- Cicognola, C., et al.
(author)
-
Associations of CSF PDGFR & beta; With Aging, Blood-Brain Barrier Damage, Neuroinflammation, and Alzheimer Disease Pathologic Changes
- 2023
-
In: NEUROLOGY. - 0028-3878. ; 101:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and ObjectivesInjured pericytes in the neurovascular unit release platelet-derived growth factor & beta; (PDGFR & beta;) into the CSF. However, it is not clear how pericyte injury contributes to Alzheimer disease (AD)-related changes and blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage. We aimed to test whether CSF PDGFR & beta; was associated with different AD-associated and age-associated pathologic changes leading to dementia.MethodsPDGFR & beta; was measured in the CSF of 771 participants with cognitively unimpaired (CU, n = 408), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 175), and dementia (n = 188) from the Swedish BioFINDER-2 cohort. We then checked association with & beta;-amyloid (A & beta;)-PET and tau-PET standardized uptake value ratio, APOE & epsilon;4 genotype and MRI measurements of cortical thickness, white matter lesions (WMLs), and cerebral blood flow. We also analyzed the role of CSF PDGFR & beta; in the relationship between aging, BBB dysfunction (measured by CSF/plasma albumin ratio, QAlb), and neuroinflammation (i.e., CSF levels of YKL-40 and glial fibrillary acidic protein [GFAP], preferentially expressed in reactive astrocytes).ResultsThe cohort had a mean age of 67 years (CU = 62.8, MCI = 69.9, dementia = 70.4), and 50.1% were male (CU = 46.6%, MCI = 53.7%, dementia = 54.3%). Higher CSF PDGFR & beta; concentrations were related to higher age (b = 19.1, & beta; = 0.5, 95% CI 16-22.2, p < 0.001), increased CSF neuroinflammatory markers of glial activation YKL-40 (b = 3.4, & beta; = 0.5, 95% CI 2.8-3.9, p < 0.001), GFAP (b = 27.4, & beta; = 0.4, 95% CI 20.9-33.9, p < 0.001), and worse BBB integrity measured by QAlb (b = 37.4, & beta; = 0.2, 95% CI 24.9-49.9, p < 0.001). Age was also associated with worse BBB integrity, and this was partly mediated by PDGFR & beta; and neuroinflammatory markers (16%-33% of total effect). However, PDGFR & beta; showed no associations with APOE & epsilon;4 genotype, PET imaging of A & beta; and tau pathology, or MRI measures of brain atrophy and WMLs (p > 0.05).DiscussionIn summary, pericyte damage, reflected by CSF PDGFR & beta;, may be involved in age-related BBB disruption together with neuroinflammation, but is not related to Alzheimer-related pathologic changes.
|
|
| 5. |
- Eratne, D., et al.
(author)
-
Plasma neurofilament light chain protein is not increased in treatment-resistant schizophrenia and first-degree relatives
- 2022
-
In: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. - : SAGE Publications. - 0004-8674 .- 1440-1614. ; 56:10
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Schizophrenia, a complex psychiatric disorder, is often associated with cognitive, neurological and neuroimaging abnormalities. The processes underlying these abnormalities, and whether a subset of people with schizophrenia have a neuroprogressive or neurodegenerative component to schizophrenia, remain largely unknown. Examining fluid biomarkers of diverse types of neuronal damage could increase our understanding of these processes, as well as potentially provide clinically useful biomarkers, for example with assisting with differentiation from progressive neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer and frontotemporal dementias. Methods: This study measured plasma neurofilament light chain protein (NfL) using ultrasensitive Simoa technology, to investigate the degree of neuronal injury in a well-characterised cohort of people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia on clozapine (n = 82), compared to first-degree relatives (an at-risk group, n = 37), people with schizophrenia not treated with clozapine (n = 13), and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 59). Results: We found no differences in NfL levels between treatment-resistant schizophrenia (mean NfL, M = 6.3 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: [5.5, 7.2]), first-degree relatives (siblings, M = 6.7 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: [5.2, 8.2]; parents, M after adjusting for age = 6.7 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: [4.7, 8.8]), controls (M = 5.8 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: [5.3, 6.3]) and not treated with clozapine (M = 4.9 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: [4.0, 5.8]). Exploratory, hypothesis-generating analyses found weak correlations in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, between NfL and clozapine levels (Spearman's r = 0.258, 95% confidence interval: [0.034, 0.457]), dyslipidaemia (r = 0.280, 95% confidence interval: [0.064, 0.470]) and a negative correlation with weight (r = -0.305, 95% confidence interval: [-0.504, -0.076]). Conclusion: Treatment-resistant schizophrenia does not appear to be associated with neuronal, particularly axonal degeneration. Further studies are warranted to investigate the utility of NfL to differentiate treatment-resistant schizophrenia from neurodegenerative disorders such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, and to explore NfL in other stages of schizophrenia such as the prodome and first episode.
|
|
| 6. |
- Leuzy, A., et al.
(author)
-
Robustness of CSF A beta 42/40 and A beta 42/P-tau181 measured using fully automated immunoassays to detect AD-related outcomes
- 2023
-
In: Alzheimers & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 19:7, s. 2994-3004
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IntroductionThis study investigated the comparability of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cutoffs for Elecsys immunoassays for amyloid beta (A beta)42/A beta 40 or A beta 42/phosphorylated tau (p-tau)181 and the effects of measurement variability when predicting Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related outcomes (i.e., A beta-positron emission tomography [PET] visual read and AD neuropathology). MethodsWe studied 750 participants (BioFINDER study, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative [ADNI], and University of California San Francisco [UCSF]). Youden's index was used to identify cutoffs and to calculate accuracy (A beta-PET visual read as outcome). Using longitudinal variability in A beta-negative controls, we identified a gray zone around cut-points where the risk of an inconsistent predicted outcome was >5%. ResultsFor A beta 42/A beta 40, cutoffs across cohorts were <0.059 (BioFINDER), <0.057 (ADNI), and <0.058 (UCSF). For A beta 42/p-tau181, cutoffs were <41.90 (BioFINDER), <39.20 (ADNI), and <46.02 (UCSF). Accuracy was approximate to 90% for both A beta 42/A beta 40 and A beta 42/p-tau181 using these cutoffs. Using A beta-PET as an outcome, 8.7% of participants fell within a gray zone interval for A beta 42/A beta 40, compared to 4.5% for A beta 42/p-tau181. Similar findings were observed using a measure of overall AD neuropathologic change (7.7% vs. 3.3%). In a subset with CSF and plasma A beta 42/40, the number of individuals within the gray zone was approximate to 1.5 to 3 times greater when using plasma A beta 42/40. DiscussionCSF A beta 42/p-tau181 was more robust to the effects of measurement variability, suggesting that it may be the preferred Elecsys-based measure in clinical practice and trials.
|
|
| 7. |
- Aguillon, David, et al.
(author)
-
Plasma p-tau217 predicts in vivo brain pathology and cognition in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease
- 2023
-
In: Alzheimer's and Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 19:6, s. 2585-2594
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Plasma-measured tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (p-tau217) is a potential non-invasive biomarker of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether plasma p-tau217 predicts subsequent cognition and positron emission tomography (PET) markers of pathology in autosomal dominant AD. Methods: We analyzed baseline levels of plasma p-tau217 and its associations with amyloid PET, tau PET, and word list delayed recall measured 7.61 years later in non-demented age- and education-matched presenilin-1 E280A carriers (n = 24) and non-carrier (n = 20) family members. Results: Carriers had higher plasma p-tau217 levels than non-carriers. Baseline plasma p-tau217 was associated with subsequent amyloid and tau PET pathology levels and cognitive function. Discussion: Our findings suggest that plasma p-tau217 predicts subsequent brain pathological burden and memory performance in presenilin-1 E280A carriers. These results provide support for plasma p-tau217 as a minimally invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for AD, with potential utility in clinical practice and trials. Highlights: Non-demented presenilin-1 E280A carriers have higher plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (p-tau217) than do age-matched non-carriers. Higher baseline p-tau217 is associated with greater future amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) pathology burden. Higher baseline p-tau217 is associated with greater future tau PET pathology burden. Higher baseline p-tau217 is associated with worse future memory performance.
|
|
| 8. |
- Ashton, Nicholas J., et al.
(author)
-
Differential roles of Aβ42/40, p-tau231 and p-tau217 for Alzheimer's trial selection and disease monitoring.
- 2022
-
In: Nature medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-170X .- 1078-8956. ; 28:12, s. 2555-2562
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Blood biomarkers indicative of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology are altered in both preclinical and symptomatic stages of the disease. Distinctive biomarkers may be optimal for the identification of AD pathology or monitoring of disease progression. Blood biomarkers that correlate with changes in cognition and atrophy during the course of the disease could be used in clinical trials to identify successful interventions and thereby accelerate the development of efficient therapies. When disease-modifying treatments become approved for use, efficient blood-based biomarkers might also inform on treatment implementation and management in clinical practice. In the BioFINDER-1 cohort, plasma phosphorylated (p)-tau231 and amyloid-β42/40 ratio were more changed at lower thresholds of amyloid pathology. Longitudinally, however, only p-tau217 demonstrated marked amyloid-dependent changes over 4-6years in both preclinical and symptomatic stages of the disease, with no such changes observed in p-tau231, p-tau181, amyloid-β42/40, glial acidic fibrillary protein or neurofilament light. Only longitudinal increases of p-tau217 were also associated with clinical deterioration and brain atrophy in preclinical AD. The selective longitudinal increase of p-tau217 and its associations with cognitive decline and atrophy was confirmed in an independent cohort (Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention). These findings support the differential association of plasma biomarkers with disease development and strongly highlight p-tau217 as a surrogate marker of disease progression in preclinical and prodromal AD, with impact for the development of new disease-modifying treatments.
|
|
| 9. |
- Barthélemy, Nicolas R., et al.
(author)
-
CSF tau phosphorylation occupancies at T217 and T205 represent improved biomarkers of amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease
- 2023
-
In: Nature Aging. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2662-8465. ; 3:4, s. 391-401
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-β peptide (Aβ)42/Aβ40 and the concentration of tau phosphorylated at site 181 (p-tau181) are well-established biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The present study used mass spectrometry to measure concentrations of nine phosphorylated and five nonphosphorylated tau species and phosphorylation occupancies (percentage phosphorylated/nonphosphorylated) at ten sites. In the present study we show that, in 750 individuals with a median age of 71.2 years, CSF pT217/T217 predicted the presence of brain amyloid by positron emission tomography (PET) slightly better than Aβ42/Aβ40 (P = 0.02). Furthermore, for individuals with positive brain amyloid by PET (n = 263), CSF pT217/T217 was more strongly correlated with the amount of amyloid (Spearman’s ρ = 0.69) than Aβ42/Aβ40 (ρ = −0.42, P < 0.0001). In two independent cohorts of participants with symptoms of AD dementia (n = 55 and n = 90), CSF pT217/T217 and pT205/T205 were better correlated with tau PET measures than CSF p-tau181 concentration. These findings suggest that CSF pT217/T217 and pT205/T205 represent improved CSF biomarkers of amyloid and tau pathology in AD.
|
|
| 10. |
- Cullen, Nicholas C., et al.
(author)
-
Test-retest variability of plasma biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease and its effects on clinical prediction models
- 2023
-
In: Alzheimers & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 19:3, s. 797-806
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- INTRODUCTION The effect of random error on the performance of blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) must be determined before clinical implementation. METHODS We measured test-retest variability of plasma amyloid beta (A beta)42/A beta 40, neurofilament light (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and phosphorylated tau (p-tau)217 and simulated effects of this variability on biomarker performance when predicting either cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) A beta status or conversion to AD dementia in 399 non-demented participants with cognitive symptoms. RESULTS Clinical performance was highest when combining all biomarkers. Among single-biomarkers, p-tau217 performed best. Test-retest variability ranged from 4.1% (A beta 42/A beta 40) to 25% (GFAP). This variability reduced the performance of the biomarkers (approximate to Delta AUC [area under the curve] -1% to -4%) with the least effects on models with p-tau217. The percent of individuals with unstable predicted outcomes was lowest for the multi-biomarker combination (14%). DISCUSSION Clinical prediction models combining plasma biomarkers-particularly p-tau217-exhibit high performance and are less effected by random error. Individuals with unstable predicted outcomes ("gray zone") should be recommended for further tests.
|
|
| 11. |
- Hansson, Oskar, et al.
(author)
-
The genetic regulation of protein expression in cerebrospinal fluid
- 2023
-
In: EMBO Molecular Medicine. - : EMBO. - 1757-4676 .- 1757-4684. ; 15:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Studies of the genetic regulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins may reveal pathways for treatment of neurological diseases. 398 proteins in CSF were measured in 1,591 participants from the BioFINDER study. Protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) were identified as associations between genetic variants and proteins, with 176 pQTLs for 145 CSF proteins (P < 1.25 × 10−10, 117 cis-pQTLs and 59 trans-pQTLs). Ventricular volume (measured with brain magnetic resonance imaging) was a confounder for several pQTLs. pQTLs for CSF and plasma proteins were overall correlated, but CSF-specific pQTLs were also observed. Mendelian randomization analyses suggested causal roles for several proteins, for example, ApoE, CD33, and GRN in Alzheimer's disease, MMP-10 in preclinical Alzheimer's disease, SIGLEC9 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and CD38, GPNMB, and ADAM15 in Parkinson's disease. CSF levels of GRN, MMP-10, and GPNMB were altered in Alzheimer's disease, preclinical Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease, respectively. These findings point to pathways to be explored for novel therapies. The novel finding that ventricular volume confounded pQTLs has implications for design of future studies of the genetic regulation of the CSF proteome.
|
|
| 12. |
- Horie, Kanta, et al.
(author)
-
CSF MTBR-tau243 is a specific biomarker of tau tangle pathology in Alzheimer’s disease
- 2023
-
In: Nature Medicine. - 1078-8956. ; 29:8, s. 1954-1963
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aggregated insoluble tau is one of two defining features of Alzheimer’s disease. Because clinical symptoms are strongly correlated with tau aggregates, drug development and clinical diagnosis need cost-effective and accessible specific fluid biomarkers of tau aggregates; however, recent studies suggest that the fluid biomarkers currently available cannot specifically track tau aggregates. We show that the microtubule-binding region (MTBR) of tau containing the residue 243 (MTBR-tau243) is a new cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker specific for insoluble tau aggregates and compared it to multiple other phosphorylated tau measures (p-tau181, p-tau205, p-tau217 and p-tau231) in two independent cohorts (BioFINDER-2, n = 448; and Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center, n = 219). MTBR-tau243 was most strongly associated with tau-positron emission tomography (PET) and cognition, whereas showing the lowest association with amyloid-PET. In combination with p-tau205, MTBR-tau243 explained most of the total variance in tau-PET burden (0.58 ≤ R 2 ≤ 0.75) and the performance in predicting cognitive measures (0.34 ≤ R 2 ≤ 0.48) approached that of tau-PET (0.44 ≤ R 2 ≤ 0.52). MTBR-tau243 levels longitudinally increased with insoluble tau aggregates, unlike CSF p-tau species. CSF MTBR-tau243 is a specific biomarker of tau aggregate pathology, which may be utilized in interventional trials and in the diagnosis of patients. Based on these findings, we propose to revise the A/T/(N) criteria to include MTBR-tau243 as representing insoluble tau aggregates (‘T’).
|
|
| 13. |
- Janelidze, S., et al.
(author)
-
Head-to-Head Comparison of 8 Plasma Amyloid-beta 42/40 Assays in Alzheimer Disease
- 2021
-
In: Jama Neurology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2168-6149. ; 78:11, s. 1375-1382
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IMPORTANCE Blood-based tests for brain amyloid-beta (A beta) pathology are needed for widespread implementation of Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers in clinical care and to facilitate patient screening and monitoring of treatment responses in clinical trials. OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of plasma A beta 42/40 measured using 8 different A beta assays when detecting abnormal brain A beta status in patients with early AD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This study included 182 cognitively unimpaired participants and 104 patients with mild cognitive impairment from the BioFINDER cohort who were enrolled at 3 different hospitals in Sweden and underwent A beta positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma collection from 2010 to 2014. Plasma A beta 42/40 was measured using an immunoprecipitation-coupled mass spectrometry developed at Washington University (IP-MS-WashU), antibody-free liquid chromatography MS developed by Araclon (LC-MS-Arc), and immunoassays from Roche Diagnostics (IA-Elc); Euroimmun (IA-EI); and Amsterdam University Medical Center, ADx Neurosciences, and Quanterix (IA-N4PE). Plasma A beta 42/40 was also measured using an IP-MS-based method from Shimadzu in 200 participants (IP-MS-Shim) and an IP-MS-based method from the University of Gothenburg (IP-MS-UGOT) and another immunoassay from Quanterix (IA-Quan) among 227 participants. For validation, 122 participants (51 cognitively normal, 51 with mild cognitive impairment, and 20 with AD dementia) were included from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative who underwent A beta-PET and plasma A beta assessments using IP-MS-WashU, IP-MS-Shim, IP-MS-UGOT, IA-Elc, IA-N4PE, and IA-Quan assays. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Discriminative accuracy of plasma A beta 42/40 quantified using 8 different assays for abnormal CSF A beta 42/40 and A beta-PET status. RESULTS A total of 408 participants were included in this study. In the BioFINDER cohort, the mean (SD) age was 71.6 (5.6) years and 49.3% of the cohort were women. When identifying participants with abnormal CSF A beta 42/40 in the whole cohort, plasma IP-MS-WashU A beta 42/40 showed significantly higher accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81-0.90) than LC-MS-Arc A beta 42/40, IA-Elc A beta 42/40, IA-EI A beta 42/40, and IA-N4PE A beta 42/40 (AUC range, 0.69-0.78; P < .05). Plasma IP-MS-WashU A beta 42/40 performed significantly better than IP-MS-UGOT A beta 42/40 and IA-Quan A beta 42/40 (AUC, 0.84 vs 0.68 and 0.64, respectively; P < .001), while there was no difference in the AUCs between IP-MS-WashU A beta 42/40 and IP-MS-Shim A beta 42/40 (0.87 vs 0.83; P = .16) in the 2 subcohorts where these biomarkers were available. The results were similar when using A beta-PET as outcome. Plasma IPMS-WashU A beta 42/40 and IPMS-Shim A beta 42/40 showed highest coefficients for correlations with CSF A beta 42/40 (r range, 0.56-0.65). The BioFINDER results were replicated in the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort (mean [SD] age, 72.4 [5.4] years; 43.4% women), where the IP-MS-WashU assay performed significantly better than the IP-MS-UGOT, IA-Elc, IA-N4PE, and IA-Quan assays but not the IP-MS-Shim assay. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The results from 2 independent cohorts indicate that certain MS-based methods performed better than most of the immunoassays for plasma A beta 42/40 when detecting brain A beta pathology.
|
|
| 14. |
- Johansson, Maurits, et al.
(author)
-
Mild behavioral impairment and its relation to tau pathology in preclinical Alzheimer's disease
- 2021
-
In: Translational Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2158-3188. ; 11:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) is suggested as risk marker for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, pathologic tau deposition in the brain has been shown closely related to clinical manifestations, such as cognitive deficits. Yet, associations between tau pathology and MBI have rarely been investigated. It is further debated if MBI precedes cognitive deficits in AD. Here, we explored potential mechanisms by which MBI is related to AD, this by studying associations between MBI and tau in preclinical AD. In all, 50 amyloid-beta -positive cognitively unimpaired subjects (part of the BioFINDER-2 study) underwent MBI-checklist (MBI-C) to assess MBI, and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) delayed word recall (ADAS-DR) to assess episodic memory. Early tau pathology was determined using tau-PET ([F-18]RO948 retention in entorhinal cortex/hippocampus) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) P-tau(181). Regression models were used to test for associations. We found that higher tau-PET signal in the entorhinal cortex/hippocampus and CSF P-tau(181) levels were associated with higher MBI-C scores (beta =0.010, SE=0.003, p=0.003 and beta =1.263, SE=0.446, p=0.007, respectively). When MBI-C and ADAS-DR were entered together in the regression models, tau-PET (beta =0.009, p=0.009) and CSF P-tau(181) (beta =0.408, p=0.006) were predicted by MBI-C, but not ADAS-DR. We conclude that in preclinical AD, MBI is associated with tau independently from memory deficits. This denotes MBI as an important early clinical manifestation related to tau pathology in AD.
|
|
| 15. |
- Lantero Rodriguez, Juan, et al.
(author)
-
Plasma N-terminal containing tau fragments (NTA-tau): a biomarker of tau deposition in Alzheimer's Disease
- 2024
-
In: MOLECULAR NEURODEGENERATION. - 1750-1326. ; 19:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Novel phosphorylated-tau (p-tau) blood biomarkers (e.g., p-tau181, p-tau217 or p-tau231), are highly specific for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and can track amyloid-beta (A beta) and tau pathology. However, because these biomarkers are strongly associated with the emergence of A beta pathology, it is difficult to determine the contribution of insoluble tau aggregates to the plasma p-tau signal in blood. Therefore, there remains a need for a biomarker capable of specifically tracking insoluble tau accumulation in brain. Methods NTA is a novel ultrasensitive assay targeting N-terminal containing tau fragments (NTA-tau) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma, which is elevated in AD. Using two well-characterized research cohorts (BioFINDER-2, n = 1,294, and BioFINDER-1, n = 932), we investigated the association between plasma NTA-tau levels and disease progression in AD, including tau accumulation, brain atrophy and cognitive decline. Results We demonstrate that plasma NTA-tau increases across the AD continuum, especially during late stages, and displays a moderate-to-strong association with tau-PET (beta = 0.54, p < 0.001) in A beta-positive participants, while weak with A beta-PET (beta = 0.28, p < 0.001). Unlike plasma p-tau181, GFAP, NfL and t-tau, tau pathology determined with tau-PET is the most prominent contributor to NTA-tau variance (52.5% of total R-2), while having very low contribution from A beta pathology measured with CSF A beta 42/40 (4.3%). High baseline NTA-tau levels are predictive of tau-PET accumulation (R-2 = 0.27), steeper atrophy (R-2 >= 0.18) and steeper cognitive decline (R-2 >= 0.27) in participants within the AD continuum. Plasma NTA-tau levels significantly increase over time in A beta positive cognitively unimpaired (beta(std) = 0.16) and impaired (beta(std) = 0.18) at baseline compared to their A beta negative counterparts. Finally, longitudinal increases in plasma NTA-tau levels were associated with steeper longitudinal decreases in cortical thickness (R-2 = 0.21) and cognition (R-2 = 0.20). Conclusion Our results indicate that plasma NTA-tau levels increase across the AD continuum, especially during mid-to-late AD stages, and it is closely associated with in vivo tau tangle deposition in AD and its downstream effects. Moreover, this novel biomarker has potential as a cost-effective and easily accessible tool for monitoring disease progression and cognitive decline in clinical settings, and as an outcome measure in clinical trials which also need to assess the downstream effects of successful A beta removal.
|
|
| 16. |
- Mattsson-Carlgren, Niklas, et al.
(author)
-
Prediction of Longitudinal Cognitive Decline in Preclinical Alzheimer Disease Using Plasma Biomarkers
- 2023
-
In: Jama Neurology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2168-6149. ; 80:4, s. 360-369
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IMPORTANCE Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology starts with a prolonged phase of beta-amyloid (A beta) accumulation without symptoms. The duration of this phase differs greatly among individuals. While this disease phase has high relevance for clinical trial designs, it is currently unclear how to best predict the onset of clinical progression.OBJECTIVE To evaluate combinations of different plasma biomarkers for predicting cognitive decline in A beta-positive cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This prospective population-based prognostic study evaluated data from 2 prospective longitudinal cohort studies (the Swedish BioFINDER-1 and the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer Prevention [WRAP]), with data collected from February 8, 2010, to October 21, 2020, for the BioFINDER-1 cohort and from August 11, 2011, to June 27, 2021, for the WRAP cohort. Participants were CU individuals recruited from memory clinics who had brain A beta pathology defined by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) A beta 42/40 in the BioFINDER-1 study and by Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) positron emission tomography (PET) in the WRAP study. A total of 564 eligible A beta-positive and A beta-negative CU participants with available relevant data from the BioFINDER-1 and WRAP cohorts were included in the study; of those, 171 A beta-positive participants were included in the main analyses.EXPOSURES Baseline P-tau181, P-tau217, P-tau231, glial fibrillary filament protein, and neurofilament light measured in plasma; CSF biomarkers in the BioFINDER-1 cohort, and PiB PET uptake in the WRAP cohort.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was longitudinal measures of cognition (using the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] and the modified Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite [mPACC]) over a median of 6 years (range, 2-10 years). The secondary outcome was conversion to AD dementia. Baseline biomarkers were used in linear regression models to predict rates of longitudinal cognitive change (calculated separately). Models were adjusted for age, sex, years of education, apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele status, and baseline cognition. Multivariable models were compared based on model R-2 coefficients and corrected Akaike information criterion.RESULTS Among 171 A beta-positive CU participants included in the main analyses, 119 (mean [SD] age, 73.0 [5.4] years; 60.5% female) were from the BioFINDER-1 study, and 52 (mean [SD] age, 64.4 [4.6] years; 65.4% female) were from the WRAP study. In the BioFINDER-1 cohort, plasma P-tau217 was the best marker to predict cognitive decline in the mPACC (model R-2 = 0.41) and the MMSE (model R-2 = 0.34) and was superior to the covariates-only models (mPACC: R-2 = 0.23; MMSE: R-2 = 0.04; P < .001 for both comparisons). Results were validated in the WRAP cohort; for example, plasma P-tau217 was associated with mPACC slopes (R-2 = 0.13 vs 0.01 in the covariates-only model; P = .01) and MMSE slopes (R-2 = 0.29 vs 0.24 in the covariates-only model; P = .046). Sparse models were identified with plasma P-tau217 as a predictor of cognitive decline. Power calculations for enrichment in hypothetical clinical trials revealed large relative reductions in sample sizes when using plasma P-tau217 to enrich for CU individuals likely to experience cognitive decline over time.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this study, plasma P-tau217 predicted cognitive decline in patients with preclinical AD. These findings suggest that plasma P-tau217 may be used as a complement to CSF or PET for participant selection in clinical trials of novel disease-modifying treatments.
|
|
| 17. |
- Minta, Karolina, et al.
(author)
-
Quantification of total apolipoprotein E and its isoforms in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with neurodegenerative diseases
- 2020
-
In: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-9193. ; 12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background The human APOE gene, which codes for apolipoprotein E (apoE), has three major polymorphic alleles: epsilon 2, epsilon 3, and epsilon 4 that give rise to amino acid substitutions. APOE-epsilon 4 is a strong risk factor of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) but the reason why is still unknown despite intense research for more than 20 years. The aim of the study was to investigate if the concentrations of total apoE and the specific apoE isoforms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) differ between various neurodegenerative diseases and control individuals, as well as among the APOE genotypes. Methods Quantification of total apoE and specific apoE isoforms (E2, E3, and E4) in CSF was performed using high-resolution parallel reaction monitoring mass spectrometry. In total, 1820 individuals were involved in the study including clinically diagnosed AD patients (n = 228), cognitively unimpaired (CU) patients (n = 896), and patients with other neurodegenerative disorders (n = 696). Follow-up data was available for 100 individuals, assessed at two time points. Subjects were dichotomized based on an A beta(42/40) CSF concentration ratio cut-off into A beta positive (A beta+, < 0.091) and A beta negative (A beta-, > 0.091) groups. Results Even though there was a significant increase of total apoE in the amyloid beta-positive (A beta+) group compared with amyloid beta-negative (A beta-) individuals (p < 0.001), the magnitude of the effect was very small (AUC = 0.55). Moreover, CSF total apoE concentrations did not differ between A beta- CU controls and clinically diagnosed AD patients. There was a difference in concentration between isoforms in heterozygous individuals in an isoform-dependent manner (E2 < E3 < E4) (p < 0.001, AUC = 0.64-0.69), and these associations remained when dichotomizing the samples into A beta+ and A beta- groups (p < 0.01, AUC = 0.63-0.74). In the cohort with follow-up samples, neither total apoE nor isoform-specific apoE concentrations differed between the two time points (p > 0.05). Conclusions The results indicate that neither the concentrations of total apoE nor the different apoE isoforms in CSF are associated with APOE-epsilon 4 carrier status, A beta status, or clinical dementia diagnoses.
|
|
| 18. |
- Nilsson, Johanna, 1993, et al.
(author)
-
Cerebrospinal fluid biomarker panel for synaptic dysfunction in a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases.
- 2024
-
In: Brain : a journal of neurology. - 1460-2156.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Synaptic dysfunction and degeneration is likely the key pathophysiology for the progression of cognitive decline in various dementia disorders. Synaptic status can be monitored by measurement of synaptic proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In the current study, the aim was to investigate and compare both known and new synaptic proteins as potential biomarkers of synaptic dysfunction, especially in the context of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Seventeen synaptic proteins were quantified in CSF using two different targeted mass spectrometry assays in the prospective Swedish BioFINDER-2 study. The study included 958 individuals, characterized as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n=205), AD dementia (n=149), and a spectrum of other neurodegenerative diseases (n=171), as well as cognitively unimpaired (CU, n=443). Synaptic protein levels were compared between diagnostic groups and their associations with cognitive decline and key neuroimaging measures (Aβ-PET, tau-PET, and cortical thickness) were assessed. Among the 17 synaptic proteins examined, 14 were specifically elevated in the AD continuum. SNAP-25, 14-3-3 zeta/delta, beta-synuclein, and neurogranin exhibited the highest discriminatory accuracy to differentiate AD dementia from controls (AUCs=0.81-0.93). SNAP-25 and 14-3-3 zeta/delta also had the strongest associations with tau-PET, Aβ-PET, and cortical thickness at baseline, and were associated with longitudinal changes in these imaging biomarkers (β(SE)=-0.056(0.0006) to 0.058(0.005), p<0.0001). SNAP-25 was the strongest predictor of progression to AD dementia in non-demented individuals (Hazard ratio=2.11). In contrast, neuronal pentraxins were decreased in all neurodegenerative diseases (except for Parkinson's disease), and NPTX2 showed the strongest associations with subsequent cognitive decline (longitudinal MMSE; β(SE)=0.57(0.1), p≤0.0001 and mPACC; β(SE)=0.095(0.024), p≤0.001) across the AD continuum. Interestingly, utilizing a ratio of the proteins that displayed higher levels in AD, such as SNAP-25 or 14-3-3 zeta/delta, over NPTX2 improved the biomarkers' association with cognitive decline and brain atrophy. We found that especially 14-3-3 zeta/delta and SNAP-25 are promising synaptic biomarkers of pathophysiological changes in AD. Neuronal pentraxins were identified as general indicators of neurodegeneration and associated with cognitive decline across various neurodegenerative dementias. The ratios of SNAP-25/NPTX2 and 14-3-3 zeta/delta/NPTX2 were found to best predict cognitive decline and brain atrophy.
|
|
| 19. |
- Orduña Dolado, Anna, et al.
(author)
-
Effects of time of the day at sampling on CSF and plasma levels of Alzheimer’ disease biomarkers
- 2024
-
In: Alzheimer's Research and Therapy. - 1758-9193. ; 16:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Studies suggest that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of amyloid-β (Aβ)42 and Aβ40 present a circadian rhythm. However sustained sampling of large volumes of CSF with indwelling intrathecal catheters used in most of these studies might have affected CSF dynamics and thereby confounded the observed fluctuations in the biomarker levels. Methods: We included 38 individuals with either normal (N = 20) or abnormal (N = 18) CSF Aβ42/Aβ40 levels at baseline. CSF and plasma were collected at two visits separated by an average of 53 days with lumbar punctures and venipunctures performed either in the morning or evening. At the first visit, sample collection was performed in the morning for 17 participants and the order was reversed for the remaining 21 participants. CSF and plasma samples were analyzed for Alzheimer’ disease (AD) biomarkers, including Aβ42, Aβ40, GFAP, NfL p-tau181, p-tau217, p-tau231 and t-tau. CSF samples were also tested using mass spectrometry for 22 synaptic and endo-lysosomal proteins. Results: CSF Aβ42 (mean difference [MD], 0.21 ng/mL; p = 0.038), CSF Aβ40 (MD, 1.85 ng/mL; p < 0.001), plasma Aβ42 (MD, 1.65 pg/mL; p = 0.002) and plasma Aβ40 (MD, 0.01 ng/mL, p = 0.002) were increased by 4.2-17.0% in evening compared with morning samples. Further, CSF levels of 14 synaptic and endo-lysosomal proteins, including neurogranin and neuronal pentraxin-1, were increased by 4.5-13.3% in the evening samples (MDrange, 0.02-0.56 fmol/µl; p < 0.042). However, no significant differences were found between morning and evening levels for the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio, different p-tau variants, GFAP and NfL. There were no significant interaction between sampling time and Aβ status for any of the biomarkers, except that CSF t-tau was increased (by 5.74%) in the evening samples compared to the morning samples in Aβ-positive (MD, 16.46 ng/ml; p = 0.009) but not Aβ-negative participants (MD, 1.89 ng/ml; p = 0.47). There were no significant interactions between sampling time and order in which samples were obtained. Discussion: Our findings provide evidence for diurnal fluctuations in Aβ peptide levels, both in CSF and plasma, while CSF and plasma p-tau, GFAP and NfL were unaffected. Importantly, Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio remained unaltered, suggesting that it is more suitable for implementation in clinical workup than individual Aβ peptides. Additionally, we show that CSF levels of many synaptic and endo-lysosomal proteins presented a diurnal rhythm, implying a build-up of neuronal activity markers during the day. These results will guide the development of unified sample collection procedures to avoid effects of diurnal variation for future implementation of AD biomarkers in clinical practice and drug trials.
|
|
| 20. |
- Salvadó, Gemma, et al.
(author)
-
Optimal combinations of CSF biomarkers for predicting cognitive decline and clinical conversion in cognitively unimpaired participants and mild cognitive impairment patients: A multi-cohort study
- 2023
-
In: Alzheimers & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 19:7, s. 2943-2955
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Our objective was determining the optimal combinations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for predicting disease progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.Methods: We included 1,983 participants from three different cohorts with longitudinal cognitive and clinical data, and baseline CSF levels of A beta 42, A beta 40, phosphorylated tau at threonine-181 (p-tau), neurofilament light (NfL), neurogranin, alpha-synuclein, soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), YKL-40, S100b, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) (Elecsys NeuroToolKit).Results: Change of modified Preclinical Alzheimer's Cognitive Composite (mPACC) in cognitively unimpaired (CU) was best predicted by p-tau/A beta 42 alone (R-2 >= 0.31) or together with NfL (R-2 = 0.25), while p-tau/A beta 42 (R-2 >= 0.19) was sufficient to accurately predict change of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. P-tau/A beta 42 (AUC >= 0.87) and p-tau/A beta 42 together with NfL (AUC >= 0.75) were the best predictors of conversion to AD and all-cause dementia, respectively.Discussion: P-tau/A beta 42 is sufficient for predicting progression in AD, with very high accuracy. Adding NfL improves the prediction of all-cause dementia conversion and cognitive decline.
|
|
| 21. |
- Therriault, Joseph, et al.
(author)
-
Comparison of immunoassay- with mass spectrometry-derived p-tau quantification for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease pathology
- 2024
-
In: Molecular Neurodegeneration. - 1750-1326. ; 19:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Antibody-based immunoassays have enabled quantification of very low concentrations of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein forms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), aiding in the diagnosis of AD. Mass spectrometry enables absolute quantification of multiple p-tau variants within a single run. The goal of this study was to compare the performance of mass spectrometry assessments of p-tau181, p-tau217 and p-tau231 with established immunoassay techniques. Methods: We measured p-tau181, p-tau217 and p-tau231 concentrations in CSF from 173 participants from the TRIAD cohort and 394 participants from the BioFINDER-2 cohort using both mass spectrometry and immunoassay methods. All subjects were clinically evaluated by dementia specialists and had amyloid-PET and tau-PET assessments. Bland–Altman analyses evaluated the agreement between immunoassay and mass spectrometry p-tau181, p-tau217 and p-tau231. P-tau associations with amyloid-PET and tau-PET uptake were also compared. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses compared the performance of mass spectrometry and immunoassays p-tau concentrations to identify amyloid-PET positivity. Results: Mass spectrometry and immunoassays of p-tau217 were highly comparable in terms of diagnostic performance, between-group effect sizes and associations with PET biomarkers. In contrast, p-tau181 and p-tau231 concentrations measured using antibody-free mass spectrometry had lower performance compared with immunoassays. Conclusions: Our results suggest that while similar overall, immunoassay-based p-tau biomarkers are slightly superior to antibody-free mass spectrometry-based p-tau biomarkers. Future work is needed to determine whether the potential to evaluate multiple biomarkers within a single run offsets the slightly lower performance of antibody-free mass spectrometry-based p-tau quantification.
|
|
| 22. |
- Van Egroo, M., et al.
(author)
-
Ultra-high field imaging, plasma markers and autopsy data uncover a specific rostral locus coeruleus vulnerability to hyperphosphorylated tau
- 2023
-
In: Molecular Psychiatry. - 1359-4184. ; 28:6, s. 2412-2422
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Autopsy data indicate that the locus coeruleus (LC) is one of the first sites in the brain to accumulate hyperphosphorylated tau pathology, with the rostral part possibly being more vulnerable in the earlier stages of the disease. Taking advantage of recent developments in ultra-high field (7 T) imaging, we investigated whether imaging measures of the LC also reveal a specific anatomic correlation with tau using novel plasma biomarkers of different species of hyperphosphorylated tau, how early in adulthood these associations can be detected and if are associated with worse cognitive performance. To validate the anatomic correlations, we tested if a rostro-caudal gradient in tau pathology is also detected at autopsy in data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP). We found that higher plasma measures of phosphorylated tau, in particular ptau(231), correlated negatively with dorso-rostral LC integrity, whereas correlations for neurodegenerative plasma markers (neurofilament light, total tau) were scattered throughout the LC including middle to caudal sections. In contrast, the plasma A beta(42/40) ratio, associated with brain amyloidosis, did not correlate with LC integrity. These findings were specific to the rostral LC and not observed when using the entire LC or the hippocampus. Furthermore, in the MAP data, we observed higher rostral than caudal tangle density in the LC, independent of the disease stage. The in vivo LC-phosphorylated tau correlations became significant from midlife, with the earliest effect for ptau(231), starting at about age 55. Finally, interactions between lower rostral LC integrity and higher ptau(231) concentrations predicted lower cognitive performance. Together, these findings demonstrate a specific rostral vulnerability to early phosphorylated tau species that can be detected with dedicated magnetic resonance imaging measures, highlighting the promise of LC imaging as an early marker of AD-related processes.
|
|
