Current advances in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease

This review provides a concise overview of recent advances in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease lesions.

Important recent advances for CSF Alzheimer's disease biomarkers include the introduction of fully automated assays, the development and implementation of certified reference materials for CSF Aβ42 and a unified protocol for handling of samples, which all support reliability and availability of CSF Alzheimer's disease biomarkers. Aβ deposition can be detected using Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio in both CSF and plasma, though a much more modest change is seen in plasma. Tau aggregation can be detected using phosphorylated tau (P-tau) at threonine 181 and 217 in CSF, with similar accuracy in plasma. Neurofilament light (NfL) be measured in CSF and shows similar diagnostic accuracy in plasma. Though total tau (T-tau) can also be measured in plasma, this measure is of limited clinical relevance for Alzheimer's disease in its current immunoassay format.

Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, including Aβ, P-tau and NfL can now be reliably measured in both CSF and blood. Plasma-based measures of P-tau show particular promise, with potential applications in both clinical practice and in clinical trials.