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Table 4 Blood biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases

From: Relevance of biomarkers across different neurodegenerative diseases

Biomarker

Target

Advantages

Disadvantages

Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio

Amyloid-β peptides

Automated platform available for measurements

Difference in values between disease groups too small to be used as a diagnostic tool. Levels can be affected by pattern change from monomer to protofibrils in blood.

MDS-OAβ

Amyloid-β oligomers

Differentiates AD patients from HC with high sensitivity and specificity, not affected by pattern change in the blood

Poorly validated and limited availability of technology relative to ELISA-based methods

IIR assay

Amyloid α-helix versus β-sheet form

Detects biophysical properties of pathologic forms of amyloid instead of just concentrations

Poorly validated and limited availability of technology relative to ELISA-based methods

p-Thr181 tau

Tau peptides

Can accurately predict 11C-PiB PET status

Does not differentiate between tauopathies other than AD

t-Tau

Tau peptides

Automated platform available for measurements

Large overlap between diagnostic groups

NfL

White matter damage

Indicates the presence of neurodegeneration; strong correlation with CSF NfL

Increased in multiple neurodegenerative diseases

  1. Abbreviations: MDS-OAβ Multimer Detection System-Oligomeric Amyloid β, IIR assay immune-infrared sensor assay, NfL neurofilament light chain