Differential diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment of Alzheimer's disease by Simoa p-tau181 measurements with matching plasma and CSF.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a long preclinical phase. Although late-stage AD/dementia may be robustly differentiated from cognitively normal individuals by means of a clinical evaluation, PET imaging, and established biofluid biomarkers, disease differentiation between cognitively normal and various subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains a challenging task. Differential biomarkers for early-stage AD diagnosis with accessible biofluid samples are urgently needed. Misfolded phosphorylated tau aggregates (p-tau) are present in multiple neurodegenerative diseases known as "tauopathies", with the most common being AD. P-tau181 is a well-established p-tau biomarker to differentiate AD dementia from non-AD pathology. However, it is unclear if p-tau181 is capable of diagnosing MCI, an early AD stage, from cognitively normal subjects, or if it can discriminate MCI subtypes amnestic MCI (aMCI) from non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). Here we evaluated the capability of p-tau181 in diagnosing MCI from cognitively normal subjects and discriminating aMCI from naMCI subtypes. We collected matching plasma and CSF samples of a clinically diagnosed cohort of 35 cognitively normal, 34 aMCI, 17 naMCI, and 31 AD dementia cases (total 117 participants) with supplemental CSF Aβ42 and total tau AD biomarker levels and performed Simoa p-tau181 assays. The diagnostic capabilities of Simoa p-tau181 assays to differentiate these cohorts were evaluated. We found (i) p-tau181 can robustly differentiate MCI or aMCI from cognitively normal cohorts with matching plasma and CSF samples, but such differentiation is weaker in diagnosing naMCI from cognitively normal groups, (ii) p-tau181 is not capable of differentiating aMCI from naMCI cohorts, and (iii) either factor of Aβ or total tau burden markedly improved differentiation power to diagnose aMCI from cognitively normal group. Plasma and CSF p-tau181 levels may serve as a promising biomarker for diagnosing aMCI from normal controls in the preclinical phase. But more robust new biomarkers are needed to differentiate naMCI from cognitively normal cases or to discriminate between MCI subtypes, aMCI from naMCI.

Duke Scholars

Author Andrew John Liu Neurology, Behavioral Neurology

Author Shih-Hsiu Wang Pathology