Research Validates Blood Test for Detecting Tau and Amyloid-B Pathologies
An analysis of consolidated data seeking new ways of accelerating Alzheimer’s diagnoses through differentiation from other disorders such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) has shown promising results.
The data suggest that a blood test for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) can be used as a predictor for tau and amyloid-B proteins. Due to the simple nature of the test, it is being touted for its scalability as well as accuracy. Previous means of identifying effective biomarkers for the two pathologies were less available due to cost and invasiveness. They typically involved neuroimaging technologies and spinal fluid tests.
“The strong correlation between plasma p-tau181 and amyloid β PET, together with the increased plasma p-tau181 in amyloid β PET-positive and tau PET-negative (Braak 0) individuals suggests that this new test detects Alzheimer disease type pathology in the very early disease stages” wrote the study authors
The study examined data from 1131 individual patients and was a collaboration between researchers at McGill University’s Translational Neuroimaging Lab in Canada and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Plasma p-tau181 as a marker for differentiating Alzheimer’s from PSP or CBD diagnoses was 88.47% effective and 81.90% accurate in distinguishing Alzheimer’s from MSA.
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News Provided by: Neurology Live
Link to release: Plasma P-Tau181 Biomarker May Be Accessible, Scalable Test for Alzheimer Disease
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