Performance of Plasma Amyloid β, Total Tau, and Neurofilament Light Chain in the Identification of Probable Alzheimer's Disease in South China

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Lin Zhou¹  Xinxin Liao¹  Yafang Zhou¹  Yaling Jiang²  Lu Zhou²  Yuan Zhu²  Hui Liu²  Qijie Yang²  Lina Guo²  Xin Wang²  Xuewen Xiao²  Weiwei Zhang³  Lu Shen⁵  Junling Wang⁶  Bin Jiao⁶  Ling Weng⁶  Xinxiang Yan⁶  Beisha Tang⁶ 

[1] Department of Geriatrics, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China;Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China;Department of Radiology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China;Engineering Research Center of Hunan Province in Cognitive Impairment Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China;Hunan International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Neurodegenerative and Neurogenetic Diseases, Changsha, China;Key Laboratory of Hunan Province in Neurodegenerative Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China;Key Laboratory of Organ Injury, Aging and Regenerative Medicine of Hunan Province, Changsha, China;National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Central South University, Changsha, China;

关键词: Alzheimer's disease;    plasma biomarkers;    amyloid-beta;    total-tau;    neurofilament light chain;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnagi.2021.749649

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia and has no effective treatment to date. It is essential to develop a minimally invasive blood-based biomarker as a tool for screening the general population, but the efficacy remains controversial. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the ability of plasma biomarkers, including amyloid β (Aβ), total tau (t-tau), and neurofilament light chain (NfL), to detect probable AD in the South Chinese population.Methods: A total of 277 patients with a clinical diagnosis of probable AD and 153 healthy controls with normal cognitive function (CN) were enrolled in this study. The levels of plasma Aβ42, Aβ40, t-tau, and NfL were detected using ultra-sensitive immune-based assays (SIMOA). Lumbar puncture was conducted in 89 patients with AD to detect Aβ42, Aβ40, t-tau, and phosphorylated (p)-tau levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and to evaluate the consistency between plasma and CSF biomarkers through correlation analysis. Finally, the diagnostic value of plasma biomarkers was further assessed by constructing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results: After adjusting for age, sex, and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) alleles, compared to the CN group, the plasma t-tau, and NfL were significantly increased in the AD group (p < 0.01, Bonferroni correction). Correlation analysis showed that only the plasma t-tau level was positively correlated with the CSF t-tau levels (r = 0.319, p = 0.003). The diagnostic model combining plasma t-tau and NfL levels, and age, sex, and APOE alleles, showed the best performance for the identification of probable AD [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.89, sensitivity = 82.31%, specificity = 83.66%].Conclusion: Blood biomarkers can effectively distinguish patients with probable AD from controls and may be a non-invasive and efficient method for AD pre-screening.

【 授权许可】

Unknown