Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) requires a thorough examination that includes an assessment of the patient's medical history, cognitive evaluations, a physical examination, and a neurologic examination.
Accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and disease monitoring are notoriously difficult when relying on clinical information only. Therefore, biomarkers reflecting the underlying pathologic mechanisms, such as amyloid-β deposition and phosphorylated tau (p-tau), play an important role; research has shown that they correlate with pathological features of the disease1.
Phosphorylated tau in threonine 181 (pTau-181) biomarker strongly corresponds to the density of amyloid- β plaques and tau tangles measured by PET scanning2,3.
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) requires a thorough examination that includes an assessment of the patient's medical history, cognitive evaluations, a physical examination, and a neurologic examination.
Accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and disease monitoring are notoriously difficult when relying on clinical information only. Therefore, biomarkers reflecting the underlying pathologic mechanisms, such as amyloid-β deposition and phosphorylated tau (p-tau), play an important role; research has shown that they correlate with pathological features of the disease1.
Phosphorylated tau in threonine 181 (pTau-181) biomarker strongly corresponds to the density of amyloid- β plaques and tau tangles measured by PET scanning2,3.
pTau-181 is a novel biomarker for differentially diagnosing AD from other neurodegenerative disorders, including non-AD dementias4, and assessing response to treatment and prognosis in patients with Alzheimer's disease5,6.
The pTau-181 biomarker is also effective at detecting early pathological changes in AD since the levels in plasma increase early in the disease.
Blood-based tests offer advantages over CSF tests by allowing for more comfortable patient sampling and less time required by healthcare professionals. Blood collection can be performed in conjunction with routine blood sampling; samples can be collected more often, which is advantageous when closer monitoring is needed.
With the latest addition to our technology platform, we are able to use a single molecule array digital ELISA (SIMOA) to determine pTau-181 in EDTA plasma.
YOUR EXPERT COMPANION FROM SAMPLE PREPARATION TO ANALYSIS RESULTS
Wieslab Diagnostic Services has developed an easy-to-use and helpful app to assist you in interpreting the results of the new p-Tau181 blood-based test. The app also provides more details about the SIMOA technology, when to use the p-Tau181 test, and how to prepare the sample.
1. Reviewed in Charlotte E Teunissen, Inge M W Verberk, Elisabeth H Thijssen, et al. Blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease: towards clinical implementation, Lancet Neurol 2022; 21: 66-77 doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(21)00361-6. Epub 2021 Nov 24. PMID: 34838239.
2. Janelidze S, Mattsson N, Palmqvist S, et al. Plasma P-tau181 in Alzheimer's disease: relationship to other biomarkers, differential diagnosis, neuropathology and longitudinal progression to Alzheimer's dementia. Nat Med 2020;26: 379-86 doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0755-1. Epub 2020 Mar 2. PMID: 32123385.
3. Karikari TK, Pascoal TA, Ashton NJ, et al. Blood phosphorylated tau 181 as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease: a diagnostic performance and prediction modeling study using data from four prospective cohorts. Lancet Neurol 2020; 19: 422-33 doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30071-5. PMID: 32333900.
4. Suarez-Calvet M, Karikari TK, Ashton NJ, et al. Novel tau biomarkers phosphorylated at T181, T217 or T231 rise in the initial stages of the preclinical Alzheimer's continuum when only subtle changes in Abeta pathology are detected. EMBO Mol Med 2020; 12 e12921
5. O’Connor A, Karikari TK, Poole T, et al. Plasma phospho-tau181 in presymptomatic and symptomatic familial Alzheimer’s disease: a longitudinal cohort study. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26: 5967–76
6. Lleo A, Zetterberg H, Pegueroles JL, et al. Phosphorylated tau181 in plasma as a potential biomarker for Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4304