Imagine you’re in a fishing tournament and you desperately need to catch the biggest fish to win. But instead of searching blindly, you have a special rod that can detect where the big fish are hiding. In the same way, scientists are on a hunt for biomarkers that can predict Alzheimer’s disease (AD) before symptoms appear. Researchers conducted a study to find serum biomarkers that can identify individuals with preclinical AD. They analyzed the serum samples of individuals at different stages of AD and identified 13 proteins that were significantly different in patients with AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to healthy controls. One protein, phosphorylated Tau-181 (p-Tau181), showed promising results as a potential biomarker for preclinical AD. The levels of p-Tau181 were higher in individuals with pre-MCI than in controls, suggesting that it could detect AD before symptoms occur. This exciting finding could lead to a cost-effective and widely available test for identifying individuals with preclinical AD and assessing the severity of the disease. It’s like having a magic sensor that can tell you if someone is at risk of developing AD even before they show any signs! If you’re curious about the details of this groundbreaking research, click the link below to explore the full article.

BackgroundThere is an urgent need for cost-effective, easy-to-measure biomarkers to identify subjects who will develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD), especially at the pre-symptomatic stage. This stage can be determined in autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) which offers the opportunity to observe the dynamic biomarker changes during the life-course of AD stages. This study aimed to investigate serum biomarkers during different AD stages and potential novel protein biomarkers of presymptomatic AD.MethodsIn the first stage, 32 individuals [20 mutation carriers including 10 with AD, and 10 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 12 healthy controls] from ADAD families were analyzed. All subjects underwent a complete clinical evaluation and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Serum samples were collected from all subjects, and antibody arrays were used to analyze 170 proteins in these samples. The most promising biomarkers were identified during this screening and were then measured in serum samples of 12 subjects with pre-MCI and 20 controls.ResultsThe serum levels of 13 proteins were significantly different in patients with AD or MCI compared to controls. Of the 13 proteins, cathepsin D, immunoglobulin E, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), von Willebrand factor (vWF), haptoglobin, and phosphorylated Tau-181 (p-Tau181) correlated with all cognitive measures (R2 = −0.69–0.76). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of these seven proteins were 0.71–0.93 for the classification of AD and 0.57–0.95 for the classification of MCI. Higher levels of p-Tau181 were found in the serum of pre-MCI subjects than in the serum of controls. The p-Tau181 serum level might detect AD before symptoms occur (area under the curve 0.85, sensitivity 75%, specificity 81.67%).ConclusionsA total of 13 serum proteins showed significant differences between subjects with AD and MCI and healthy controls. The p-Tau181 serum level might be a broadly available and cost-effective biomarker to identify individuals with preclinical AD and assess the severity of AD.

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