Biokemiske markører for Alzheimers sygdom

It is estimated that approximately 40,000 people in Denmark suffer from Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative dementia. Symptomatic treatment now exists which can temporarily inhibit the loss of brain function. Unfortunately, AD is difficult to diagnose, especially early in the disease course, and a definite diagnosis is possible only post-mortem. To develop improved diagnostic methods, several biomarkers have been examined for their ability to differentiate AD from normal aging and other dementias. Their measurement in blood samples has not yet been developed, but analyses may now be routinely performed using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The CSF biomarkers include amyloid-beta 1-42 (Abeta1-42), which is decreased in AD patients, as well as total tau (t-tau) and hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau), which are elevated. While a decreased Abeta1-42 level in CSF has no independent value in the diagnostic differentiation, t-tau and p-tau add more specificity to the differentiation of AD from other dementias while retaining a reasonable degree of sensitivity.