Marta Milà-Alomà, PhD, Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the value of blood biomarkers in the pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Several blood biomarkers of AD were measured in a population of over 200 cognitively unimpaired participants at risk of the disease. They measured amyloid beta in plasma, different isoforms of phosphorylated tau (p-tau), including p-tau181, p-tau217, and p-tau231, GFAP, and neurofilament light (NfL), to test how baseline levels predicted cognitive decline. Plasma p-tau181, p-tau231, and total tau were significantly associated with cognitive decline after a 3-year follow-up in participants with amyloid positivity at baseline. Furthermore, participants who showed the steepest cognitive decline were analyzed and it was found that p-tau217 and p-tau181 were significantly associated with cognitive decline. P-tau217 and p-tau181, were found to be increased in the very earliest stages of the disease when amyloid pathology is only subtle, and they were associated with increased amyloid deposition and cognitive decline after 3 years. As analysis of the data continues, factors such as the effect of sex differences and comorbidities on blood biomarkers are also being investigated. This interview took place at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2022 in San Diego, CA.
