The Alz-tau Biomarker for Alzheimer's Disease: Study in a Caucasian Population

• Published in: Journal of Alzheimer's disease Vol. 67; no. 4; p. 1181
• Main Authors: Guzmán-Martínez, Leonardo, Tapia, José Pablo, Farías, Gonzalo A, González, Andrea, Estrella, Matías, Maccioni, Ricardo B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - blood; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Biomarkers - blood; Blood Platelets - metabolism; Chile; Correlation of Data; Early Diagnosis; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Status and Dementia Tests; Molecular Weight; Reproducibility of Results; tau Proteins - blood; tau Proteins - chemistry; Chile; clinical study; molecular biomarkers; HMWtau/ LMWtau ratio; Alzheimer’s disease; early detection of the disease; tau protein
• ISSN: 1875-8908
• DOI: 10.3233/JAD-180637

The establishment of a molecular biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is critical for diagnosis and follow up of patients, and as a quantitative parameter in the evaluation of potential new drugs to control AD. A list of blood biomarkers has been reported but none has been validated for the Alzheimer's clinic. The changes in hyperphosphorylated tau and amyloid peptide in the cerebrospinal fluid is currently used as a tool in the clinics and for research purposes, but this method is highly invasive. Recently, we reported a non-invasive and reliable blood biomarker that correlates the increase in the ratio of heavy tau (HMWtau) and the low molecular weight tau (LMWtau) in human platelets and the decrease in the brain volume as measured by structural MRI. This molecular marker has been named Alz-tau®. Beyond the clinical trials developed with a Latin American population, the present study focuses on an evaluation of this biomarker in a Caucasian population. We examined 36 AD patients and 15 cognitively normal subjects recruited in Barcelona, Spain. Tau levels in platelets were determined by immunoreactivity and the cognitive status by using GDS and MMSE neuropsychological tests. The HMW/LMW tau ratio was statistically different between controls and AD patients. A high correlation was found between the increase in MMSE scores and HMW/LMW tau ratio. This study showed that this ratio is significantly higher in AD patients than controls. Moreover, this study on a peripheral marker of AD is valuable to understanding the AD pathogenesis.