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Cited by 253Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsCerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus

Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease utilizing amyloid and tau as fluid biomarkers

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Lee, Jinny Claire, Kim, Soo Jung, Hong, Seungpyo, Kim, YoungSoo·2019·Experimental & Molecular Medicine
DOI 10.1038/s12276-019-0250-2PMC PMC6509326
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Abstract

Current technological advancements in clinical and research settings have permitted a more intensive and comprehensive understanding of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This development in knowledge regarding AD pathogenesis has been implemented to produce disease-modifying drugs. The potential for accessible and effective therapeutic methods has generated a need for detecting this neurodegenerative disorder during early stages of progression because such remedial effects are more profound when implemented during the initial, prolonged prodromal stages of pathogenesis. The aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau isoforms are characteristic of AD; thus, they are considered core candidate biomarkers. However, research attempting to establish the reliability of Aβ and tau as biomarkers has culminated in an amalgamation of contradictory results and theories regarding the biomarker concentrations necessary for an accurate diagnosis. In this review, we consider the capabilities and limitations of fluid biomarkers collected from cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and oral, ocular, and olfactory secretions as diagnostic tools for AD, along with the impact of the integration of these biomarkers in clinical settings. Furthermore, the evolution of diagnostic criteria and novel research findings are discussed. This review is a summary and reflection of the ongoing concerted efforts to establish fluid biomarkers as a diagnostic tool and implement them in diagnostic procedures. Markers from body fluids could help clinicians diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before cognitive decline appears. After numerous setbacks in treating advanced Alzheimer’s, researchers are eager to identify biological indicators that facilitate earlier disease detection and interception. A review by YoungSoo Kim and colleagues at Yonsei University in South Korea, explores the promise of ‘fluid biomarkers,’ which enables diagnosis using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood, oral, ocular, and olfactory fluid samples. Shifts in CSF levels of amyloid beta and tau, two proteins central to Alzheimer’s pathology, can reliably monitor at-risk individuals. Although CSF collection is unpleasant for patients, it remains more promising than blood, where current data for candidate fluid biomarkers are relatively inconclusive. In this review, investigations to discover safer, cheaper, and more reliable diagnostic tools to shift treatment from alleviation to prevention are introduced.

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  • Amyloid pathology typically develops first followed by tau pathology, which correlates with AD progression and cognitive impairment.

    “Amyloid pathology typically develops first followed by tau pathology, which correlates with AD progression and cognitive impairment2–4.”

    From The R136S mutation in the APOE3 gene confers resilience against tau pathology via inhibition of the cGAS-STING-IFN pathway (2025) · cites this paper as [3]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says amyloid plaques and tau tangles often parallel cognitive impairment, and the Cerebrospinal fluid section treats both as markers of AD progression. The paper does not establish the claimed typical sequence in which amyloid pathology develops before tau pathology. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lee, J. C., Kim, S. J., Hong, S., & Kim, Y.
Affiliations
  • Yonsei University (KR)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
ORCID
Venue
Experimental & Molecular Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2019-05
Volume
51
Issue
5
Pages
1-10
ISSN
  • 1226-3613 (ISSN-L)
  • 2092-6413
DOI
10.1038/s12276-019-0250-2
PMC
PMC6509326
OpenAlex
W2944734574
Cited by
253
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 7
FWCI
5.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Experimental & Molecular Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Korea Health Industry Development Institute (HI14C3319)
  • National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018R1A6A1A03023718)
  • Yonsei University (2018-22-0022, Yonsei Frontier Lab)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-beta, tau protein, fluid biomarkers, cerebrospinal fluid, blood biomarkers, early diagnosis, diagnostic criteria, prodromal Alzheimer's disease, disease-modifying drugs
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Humans, Saliva, Biomarkers, Amyloid beta-Peptides, tau Proteins, Protein Isoforms

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