A breakthrough study published in JAMA Neurology has identified a reliable blood test for detecting Alzheimer’s disease pathology in patients with neurodegenerative syndromes, including frontotemporal dementia. Researchers found that plasma p-tau217 concentrations accurately detected amyloid plaques and tau tangles across multiple clinical syndromes.
The study involved 349 autopsied individuals who underwent clinical evaluations and neuropathological examinations at the University of California San Francisco Alzheimer Disease Research Center from 2008 to 2021. The researchers found that plasma p-tau217 performed significantly better in Alzheimer’s-related syndromes, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.98.
The presence of Alzheimer’s disease was associated with lower cognitive performance, including Mini-Mental State Examination scores and memory, executive, and visuospatial composites. However, the study highlights the importance of considering clinical presentation when interpreting blood test results, as Alzheimer’s may not be the sole cause of symptoms in some patients.
This discovery provides evidence for evaluating Alzheimer’s-targeting treatments in patients with neurodegenerative syndromes who are not currently included in Alzheimer’s drug trials. Further research is needed to determine the value of clinically available blood-based tests in frontotemporal dementia-related syndromes, as limited work has been done on this topic due to a lack of confirmatory biomarkers.
Source: https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/dementia/114161