Cerebrospinal fluid levels of tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 in patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
In 31 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), 19 with probable vascular dementia (VaD) and 20 with Possible AD and Possible VaD, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau levels hyperphosphorylated at threonine 181 (Ptau) were measured by ELISA. Thirty-six age-matched subjects were used as controls. The severity of the cognitive decline was assessed at the time of CSF analysis and after a 12-month follow-up. The groups had comparable age, degree of cognitive impairment and disease duration; these parameters were not related to P-tau levels. P-tau discriminated between demented patients and controls, but no significant difference emerged between AD and the other groups. By contrast, higher P-tau values were found to predict, independently of the clinical diagnosis, a more rapid evolution of cognitive decline. Whether these findings are due to a lack of CSF P-tau specificity or to the low reliability of clinical and radiological criteria remains unclear. P-tau may be useful in the evaluation of disease evolution, by predicting the rate of cognitive decline.
Ravaglia
Sabrina
S
Department of Behavioral Neurology, Institute of Neurology IRCCS C. Mondino, Via Mondino 2, 27100, Pavia, Italy. sabrina.ravaglia@mondino.it
Bini
Paola
P
Sinforiani
Elena
E
Franciotta
Diego
D
Zardini
Elisabetta
E
Tosca
Pietro
P
Moglia
Arrigo
A
Costa
Alfredo
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D020134:Catalytic Domain / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010766:Phosphorylation; D013912:Threonine / Q000378:metabolism*; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000737:chemistry
D015415:Biomarkers; D016875:tau Proteins; D013912:Threonine