Prediction of future Alzheimer's disease dementia using plasma phospho-tau combined with other accessible measures

A combination of plasma phospho-tau (P-tau) and other accessible biomarkers might provide accurate prediction about the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia. We examined this in participants with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment from the BioFINDER (n = 340) and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (n = 543) studies. Plasma P-tau, plasma Aβ42/Aβ40, plasma neurofilament light, APOE genotype, brief cognitive tests and an AD-specific magnetic resonance imaging measure were examined using progression to AD as outcome. Within 4 years, plasma P-tau217 predicted AD accurately (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.83) in BioFINDER. Combining plasma P-tau217, memory, executive function and APOE produced higher accuracy (AUC = 0.91, P < 0.001). In ADNI, this model had similar AUC (0.90) using plasma P-tau181 instead of P-tau217. The model was implemented online for prediction of the individual probability of progressing to AD. Within 2 and 6 years, similar models had AUCs of 0.90–0.91 in both cohorts. Using cerebrospinal fluid P-tau, Aβ42/Aβ40 and neurofilament light instead of plasma biomarkers did not improve the accuracy significantly. The clinical predictions by memory clinic physicians had significantly lower accuracy (4-year AUC = 0.71). In summary, plasma P-tau, in combination with brief cognitive tests and APOE genotyping, might greatly improve the diagnostic prediction of AD and facilitate recruitment for AD trials

Tau PET correlates with different Alzheimer's disease-related features compared to CSF and plasma p-tau biomarkers

PET, CSF and plasma biomarkers of tau pathology may be differentially associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related demographic, cognitive, genetic and neuroimaging markers. We examined 771 participants with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment or dementia from BioFINDER-2 (n = 400) and ADNI (n = 371). All had tau-PET ([18F]RO948 in BioFINDER-2, [18F]flortaucipir in ADNI) and CSF p-tau181 biomarkers available. Plasma p-tau181 and plasma/CSF p-tau217 were available in BioFINDER-2 only. Concordance between PET, CSF and plasma tau biomarkers ranged between 66 and 95%. Across the whole group, ridge regression models showed that increased CSF and plasma p-tau181 and p-tau217 levels were independently of tau PET associated with higher age, and APOEɛ4-carriership and Aβ-positivity, while increased tau-PET signal in the temporal cortex was associated with worse cognitive performance and reduced cortical thickness. We conclude that biofluid and neuroimaging markers of tau pathology convey partly independent information, with CSF and plasma p-tau181 and p-tau217 levels being more tightly linked with early markers of AD (especially Aβ-pathology), while tau-PET shows the strongest associations with cognitive and neurodegenerative markers of disease progression

Characterization of pre-analytical sample handling effects on a panel of Alzheimer's disease–related blood-based biomarkers: Results from the Standardization of Alzheimer's Blood Biomarkers (SABB) working group

Introduction: Pre-analytical sample handling might affect the results of Alzheimer's disease blood-based biomarkers. We empirically tested variations of common blood collection and handling procedures. Methods: We created sample sets that address the effect of blood collection tube type, and of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid plasma delayed centrifugation, centrifugation temperature, aliquot volume, delayed storage, and freeze–thawing. We measured amyloid beta (Aβ)42 and 40 peptides with six assays, and Aβ oligomerization-tendency (OAβ), amyloid precursor protein (APP)699-711, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light (NfL), total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau181. Results: Collection tube type resulted in different values of all assessed markers. Delayed plasma centrifugation and storage affected Aβ and t-tau; t-tau was additionally affected by centrifugation temperature. The other markers were resistant to handling variations. Discussion: We constructed a standardized operating procedure for plasma handling, to facilitate introduction of blood-based biomarkers into the research and clinical settings

The global Alzheimer's Association round robin study on plasma amyloid β methods

Introduction: Blood-based assays to measure brain amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition are an attractive alternative to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-based assays currently used in clinical settings. In this study, we examined different blood-based assays to measure Aβ and how they compare among centers and assays. Methods: Aliquots from 81 plasma samples were distributed to 10 participating centers. Seven immunological assays and four mass-spectrometric methods were used to measure plasma Aβ concentrations. Results: Correlations were weak for Aβ42 while Aβ40 correlations were stronger. The ratio Aβ42/Aβ40 did not improve the correlations and showed weak correlations. Discussion: The poor correlations for Aβ42 in plasma might have several potential explanations, such as the high levels of plasma proteins (compared to CSF), sensitivity to pre-analytical sample handling and specificity, and cross-reactivity of different antibodies. Different methods might also measure different pools of plasma Aβ42. We, however, hypothesize that greater correlations might be seen in future studies because many of the methods have been refined during completion of this study

Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 and phosphorylated tau 181 as biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a retrospective diagnostic performance study

Background: Plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (p-tau217) and plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) are associated with Alzheimer's disease tau pathology. We compared the diagnostic value of both biomarkers in cognitively unimpaired participants and patients with a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease syndromes, or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) syndromes. / Methods: In this retrospective multicohort diagnostic performance study, we analysed plasma samples, obtained from patients aged 18–99 years old who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (Alzheimer's disease dementia, logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia, or posterior cortical atrophy), FTLD syndromes (corticobasal syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia, or semantic variant primary progressive aphasia), or mild cognitive impairment; the participants were from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center, San Francisco, CA, USA, and the Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Consortium (ARTFL; 17 sites in the USA and two in Canada). Participants from both cohorts were carefully characterised, including assessments of CSF p-tau181, amyloid-PET or tau-PET (or both), and clinical and cognitive evaluations. Plasma p-tau181 and p-tau217 were measured using electrochemiluminescence-based assays, which differed only in the biotinylated antibody epitope specificity. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to determine diagnostic accuracy of both plasma markers using clinical diagnosis, neuropathological findings, and amyloid-PET and tau-PET measures as gold standards. Difference between two area under the curve (AUC) analyses were tested with the Delong test. / Findings: Data were collected from 593 participants (443 from UCSF and 150 from ARTFL, mean age 64 years [SD 13], 294 [50%] women) between July 1 and Nov 30, 2020. Plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 were correlated (r=0·90, p<0·0001). Both p-tau217 and p-tau181 concentrations were increased in people with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (n=75, mean age 65 years [SD 10]) relative to cognitively unimpaired controls (n=118, mean age 61 years [SD 18]; AUC=0·98 [95% CI 0·95–1·00] for p-tau217, AUC=0·97 [0·94–0·99] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·31) and in pathology-confirmed Alzheimer's disease (n=15, mean age 73 years [SD 12]) versus pathologically confirmed FTLD (n=68, mean age 67 years [SD 8]; AUC=0·96 [0·92–1·00] for p-tau217, AUC=0·91 [0·82–1·00] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·22). P-tau217 outperformed p-tau181 in differentiating patients with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (n=75) from those with FTLD syndromes (n=274, mean age 67 years [SD 9]; AUC=0·93 [0·91–0·96] for p-tau217, AUC=0·91 [0·88–0·94] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·01). P-tau217 was a stronger indicator of amyloid-PET positivity (n=146, AUC=0·91 [0·88–0·94]) than was p-tau181 (n=214, AUC=0·89 [0·86–0·93]; pdiff=0·049). Tau-PET binding in the temporal cortex was more strongly associated with p-tau217 than p-tau181 (r=0·80 vs r=0·72; pdiff<0·0001, n=230). / Interpretation: Both p-tau217 and p-tau181 had excellent diagnostic performance for differentiating patients with Alzheimer's disease syndromes from other neurodegenerative disorders. There was some evidence in favour of p-tau217 compared with p-tau181 for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease syndromes versus FTLD syndromes, as an indication of amyloid-PET-positivity, and for stronger correlations with tau-PET signal. Pending replication in independent, diverse, and older cohorts, plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 could be useful screening tools to identify individuals with underlying amyloid and Alzheimer's disease tau pathology. / Funding: US National Institutes of Health, State of California Department of Health Services, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Michael J Fox foundation, Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Alzheimer's Association

Diagnostic value of plasma phosphorylated tau181 in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration

With the potential development of new disease-modifying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapies, simple, widely available screening tests are needed to identify which individuals, who are experiencing symptoms of cognitive or behavioral decline, should be further evaluated for initiation of treatment. A blood-based test for AD would be a less invasive and less expensive screening tool than the currently approved cerebrospinal fluid or amyloid β positron emission tomography (PET) diagnostic tests. We examined whether plasma tau phosphorylated at residue 181 (pTau181) could differentiate between clinically diagnosed or autopsy-confirmed AD and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Plasma pTau181 concentrations were increased by 3.5-fold in AD compared to controls and differentiated AD from both clinically diagnosed (receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.894) and autopsy-confirmed frontotemporal lobar degeneration (area under the curve of 0.878). Plasma pTau181 identified individuals who were amyloid β-PET-positive regardless of clinical diagnosis and correlated with cortical tau protein deposition measured by 18F-flortaucipir PET. Plasma pTau181 may be useful to screen for tau pathology associated with AD

Comparison of Plasma Phosphorylated Tau Species With Amyloid and Tau Positron Emission Tomography, Neurodegeneration, Vascular Pathology, and Cognitive Outcomes

IMPORTANCE: Cerebrospinal fluid phosphorylated tau (p-tau) 181, p-tau217, and p-tau231 are associated with neuropathological outcomes, but a comparison of these p-tau isoforms in blood samples is needed. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a head-to-head comparison of plasma p-tau181 and p-tau231 measured on the single-molecule array (Simoa) platform and p-tau181 and p-tau217 measured on the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) platform on amyloid and tau positron emission tomography (PET) measures, neurodegeneration, vascular pathology, and cognitive outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study included data from the Mayo Clinic Study on Aging collected from March 1, 2015, to September 30, 2017, and analyzed between December 15, 2020, and May 17, 2021. Associations between the 4 plasma p-tau measures and dichotomous amyloid PET, metaregion of interest tau PET, and entorhinal cortex tau PET were analyzed using logistic regression models; the predictive accuracy was summarized using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) statistic. Of 1329 participants without dementia and with p-tau181 and p-tau217 on MSD, 200 participants with plasma p-tau181 and p-tau231 on Simoa and magnetic resonance imaging and amyloid and tau PET data at the same study visit were eligible. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes included amyloid (greater than 1.48 standardized uptake value ratio) and tau PET, white matter hyperintensities, white matter microstructural integrity (fractional anisotropy genu of corpus callosum and hippocampal cingulum bundle), and cognition. RESULTS Of 200 included participants, 101 (50.5%) were male, and the median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 79.5 (71.1-84.1) years. A total of 177 were cognitively unimpaired (CU) and 23 had mild cognitive impairment. Compared with amyloid-negative CU participants, among amyloid-positive CU participants, the median (IQR) Simoa p-tau181 measure was 49% higher (2.58 [2.00-3.72] vs 1.73 [1.45-2.13] pg/mL), MSD p-tau181 measure was 53% higher (1.22 [0.91-1.56] vs 0.80 [0.66-0.97] pg/mL), MSD p-tau217 measure was 77% higher (0.23 [0.17-0.34] vs 0.13 [0.09-0.18] pg/mL), and Simoa p-tau231 measure was 49% higher (20.21 [15.60-25.41] vs 14.27 [11.27-18.10] pg/mL). There were no differences between the p-tau species for amyloid PET and tau PET metaregions of interest. However, among CU participants, both MSD p-tau181 and MSD p-tau217 more accurately predicted abnormal entorhinal cortex tau PET than Simoa p-tau181 (MSD p-tau181: AUROC, 0.80 vs 0.70; P = .046; MSD p-tau217: AUROC, 0.81 vs 0.70; P = .04). MSD p-tau181 and p-tau217 and Simoa p-tau181, but not p-tau231, were associated with greater white matter hyperintensity volume and lower white matter microstructural integrity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this largely presymptomatic population, these results suggest subtle differences across plasma p-tau species and platforms for the prediction of amyloid and tau PET and magnetic resonance imaging measures of cerebrovascular and Alzheimer-related patholog

Discriminative Accuracy of Plasma Phospho-tau217 for Alzheimer Disease vs Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

IMPORTANCE:There are limitations in current diagnostic testing approaches for Alzheimer disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: To examine plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (P-tau217) as a diagnostic biomarker for AD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Three cross-sectional cohorts: an Arizona-based neuropathology cohort (cohort 1), including 34 participants with AD and 47 without AD (dates of enrollment, May 2007-January 2019); the Swedish BioFINDER-2 cohort (cohort 2), including cognitively unimpaired participants (n = 301) and clinically diagnosed patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 178), AD dementia (n = 121), and other neurodegenerative diseases (n = 99) (April 2017-September 2019); and a Colombian autosomal-dominant AD kindred (cohort 3), including 365 PSEN1 E280A mutation carriers and 257 mutation noncarriers (December 2013-February 2017). EXPOSURES: Plasma P-tau217. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcome was the discriminative accuracy of plasma P-tau217 for AD (clinical or neuropathological diagnosis). Secondary outcome was the association with tau pathology (determined using neuropathology or positron emission tomography [PET]). RESULTS: Mean age was 83.5 (SD, 8.5) years in cohort 1, 69.1 (SD, 10.3) years in cohort 2, and 35.8 (SD, 10.7) years in cohort 3; 38% were women in cohort 1, 51% in cohort 2, and 57% in cohort 3. In cohort 1, antemortem plasma P-tau217 differentiated neuropathologically defined AD from non-AD (area under the curve [AUC], 0.89 [95% CI, 0.81-0.97]) with significantly higher accuracy than plasma P-tau181 and neurofilament light chain (NfL) (AUC range, 0.50-0.72; P  .15). In cohort 3, plasma P-tau217 levels were significantly greater among PSEN1 mutation carriers, compared with noncarriers, from approximately 25 years and older, which is 20 years prior to estimated onset of MCI among mutation carriers. Plasma P-tau217 levels correlated with tau tangles in participants with (Spearman ρ = 0.64; P < .001), but not without (Spearman ρ = 0.15; P = .33), β-amyloid plaques in cohort 1. In cohort 2, plasma P-tau217 discriminated abnormal vs normal tau-PET scans (AUC, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.91-0.96]) with significantly higher accuracy than plasma P-tau181, plasma NfL, CSF P-tau181, CSF Aβ42:Aβ40 ratio, and MRI measures (AUC range, 0.67-0.90; P < .05), but its performance was not significantly different compared with CSF P-tau217 (AUC, 0.96; P = .22). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among 1402 participants from 3 selected cohorts, plasma P-tau217 discriminated AD from other neurodegenerative diseases, with significantly higher accuracy than established plasma- and MRI-based biomarkers, and its performance was not significantly different from key CSF- or PET-based measures. Further research is needed to optimize the assay, validate the findings in unselected and diverse populations, and determine its potential role in clinical care