Tag Archives: Alzheimer’s disease

October 2023—Orders for cerebrospinal fluid testing for Alzheimer’s disease have grown at Mayo Clinic since spring 2020, when testing was first offered. When aducanumab was approved in May 2021, test orders jumped.

May 2023—For fluid biomarkers in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, the pace of research and related industry and regulatory developments in the past year has been brisk.

October 2021—It’s not quite six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but the connection between Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and equity in medicine is real (and far more important). It’s a trail researchers have been following for some time, but which has gained more prominence with the recent approval of a new drug for treating the disease (aducanumab) and the acknowledgment of racial disparities in CSF amyloid and tau biomarkers and their associated cutoffs.

August 2021—The FDA’s approval in June of a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease has incited motley responses, a sort of Grand Tour of emotions and reactions. As with any stormy action, the aftermath becomes clear only over time, during the hard work of cleaning up. What comes next?

October 2018—The newly developed National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer’s Association (NIA-AA) research framework uses a biological definition of Alzheimer’s disease.¹ This framework has increased focus on biofluid biomarkers, especially because the measurement of cerebrospinal fluid amyloid beta peptide 42 (Aβ42) (or Aβ 42/40 ratio), phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau), and total tau proteins (T-tau) are included in the definition.¹ The field of AD biofluid biomarkers is rapidly evolving. For example, CSF neurofilament light (NfL) is associated with AD neurodegeneration and may be a better CSF marker compared with T-tau.