[Diagnostic value of tau in cerebrospinal fluid in alzheimer disease].
OBJECTIVE
To search for reliable and quantitative biochemical marker for diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.


METHODS
ELISA-double enzyme amplification assay was used to detect the total tau and abnormally hyperphosphorylated (p-tau) in cerebrospinal fluid specimens of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD, N = 52, 30 from the Netherlands and 22 from Wuhan and Haikou, China), vascular dementia (VD, N = 46, 18 from the Netherlands and 28 from Haikou), and non-neurological disease (N = 37, 13 from the Netherlands and 24 from Haikou) and of normal elderly controls (N = 56, 26 from the Netherlands, and 30 from Wuan and Haikou).


RESULTS
The measurement of CSF specimens from Netherlands Brain Bank showed that the levels of total tau and p-tau in CSF specimens of AD patients were significantly higher than those in CSF of patients with VD and non-dementia neurological disorders, and of age-matched non-neurological normal controls. With CSF tau > or = 370 pg/ml as the marker for diagnosis of AD, the sensitivity, specificity, reliability as well as differentiation rate of AD from VD were 90.0%, 79.0%, 82.8% and 66.7%, respectively. With CSF p-tau > or = 120 pg/ml as the marker for diagnosis of AD, the sensitivity, specificity, reliability as well as differentiation rate of AD from VD were 93.3%, 89.5%, 90.8%, and 83.3% respectively. The measurement of total and phosphorylated taus in CSF specimens of AD and non-AD patients and normal controls collected in China showed the similar results; and the sensitivity, specificity, reliability as well as differentiation rate of AD from VD were 77.3%, 85.4%, 83.7% and 71.4% with CSF tau > or = 120 pg/ml as the marker for diagnosis of AD. There was no correlation between CSF tau and p-tau and age, sex, and seriousness of disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased phosphorylated tau in human cerebrospinal fluid is a reliable biomarker for diagnosis of Alzheimer disease.
Hu
Y
Y
Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
He
S
S
Wang
J
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000208:ethnology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000378:metabolism
D015415:Biomarkers; D016875:tau Proteins