EBioMedicine (Apr 2024)

Comparison of two plasma p-tau217 assays to detect and monitor Alzheimer’s pathologyResearch in context

  • Joseph Therriault,
  • Nicholas James Ashton,
  • Ilaria Pola,
  • Gallen Triana-Baltzer,
  • Wagner Scheeren Brum,
  • Guglielmo Di Molfetta,
  • Burak Arslan,
  • Nesrine Rahmouni,
  • Cecile Tissot,
  • Stijn Servaes,
  • Jenna Stevenson,
  • Arthur Cassa Macedo,
  • Tharick Ali Pascoal,
  • Hartmuth Christian Kolb,
  • Andreas Jeromin,
  • Kaj Blennow,
  • Henrik Zetterberg,
  • Pedro Rosa-Neto,
  • Andrea Lessa Benedet

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 102
p. 105046

Abstract

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Summary: Background: Blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have become increasingly important as scalable tools for diagnosis and determining clinical trial eligibility. P-tau217 is the most promising due to its excellent sensitivity and specificity for AD-related pathological changes. Methods: We compared the performance of two commercially available plasma p-tau217 assays (ALZpath p-tau217 and Janssen p-tau217+) in 294 individuals cross-sectionally. Correlations with amyloid PET and tau PET were assessed, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses evaluated both p-tau217 assays for identifying AD pathology. Findings: Both plasma p-tau217 assays were strongly associated with amyloid and tau PET. Furthermore, both plasma p-tau217 assays identified individuals with AD vs other neurodegenerative diseases (ALZpath AUC = 0.95; Janssen AUC = 0.96). Additionally, plasma p-tau217 concentrations rose with AD severity and their annual changes correlated with tau PET annual change. Interpretation: Both p-tau217 assays had excellent diagnostic performance for AD. Our study supports the future clinical use of commercially-available assays for p-tau217. Funding: This research is supported by the Weston Brain Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, the Alzheimer's Association, Brain Canada Foundation, the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé and the Colin J. Adair Charitable Foundation.

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