The Application of Tau-fragments as Biomarkers of Neuronal Loss
Kim Henriksen, Head, Nordic Bioscience A/S
Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is significantly hampered by the lack of easily accessible biomarkers, which can reliably detect disease presence and predict disease risk. Fluid biomarkers of AD currently provide indications of disease stage; however, they are not robust predictors of disease progression or treatment response, and most are measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which limits their applicability. However, in recent studies enzyme-generated fragments of tau have been linked to neuronal death, and therefore may serve as serum biomarkers of cognitive loss. Two competitive ELISAs detecting an ADAM10-generated fragment (Tau-A) or a caspase-3-generated fragment (Tau-C) were measured in baseline serum samples from patients with mild to moderate AD from a phase 3 clinical trial, and correlated to change in AD Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog11), Clinical Dementia Rating – Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB over a 64-week period using an MMRM-analysis.Relationship between the biomarkers and changes in ADAS-Cog11 score as a function of time were observed for Tau-C and change in ADAS-Cog11 (p=0.06), for Tau-A and change in CDR-SB (p=0.04). The correlation of Tau-A/Tau-C ratio with cognitive change assessed by ADAS-Cog11 was even more significant (p<0.006).These data indicate that measuring the balance between tau fragments in serum may provide a marker of the rate of progression of AD, and warrant studies in larger cohorts.
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Add to Calendar ▼2014-07-08 00:00:002014-07-09 00:00:00Europe/LondonBiomarkers 2014Biomarkers 2014 in Cambridge, UKCambridge, UKSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
