CSF-tau and CSF-Abeta(1-42) in posterior cortical atrophy.
OBJECTIVE
Our purpose was to measure Abeta(1-42), T-tau and P-tau(181) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a presenile dementia likely to represent a variant of Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
CSF samples from 34 subjects including 9 patients with PCA, 11 age-matched patients with AD and 14 age-matched cognitively healthy controls were analyzed using commercially available ELISA kits.


RESULTS
The Abeta(1-42), T-tau and P-tau(181) levels in PCA patients differed significantly (p < 0.02) from those in healthy controls but were indistinguishable from subjects with a clinical diagnosis of AD.


CONCLUSIONS
High T-tau and P-tau(181) and low Abeta(1-42) levels in PCA - typically observed in AD - indicate that the underlying pathology of PCA is usually AD. If these findings are replicated in PCA patients with autopsy-confirmed AD neuropathology, PCA patients may be eligible for disease-modifying AD treatments.
Baumann
Thomas P
TP
Memory Clinic-Neuropsychology Center, Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland. th.baumann@unibas.ch
Duyar
Hüseyin
H
Sollberger
Marc
M
Kuhle
Jens
J
Regeniter
Axel
A
Gomez-Mancilla
Baltazar
B
Schmidtke
Klaus
K
Monsch
Andreas U
AU
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D001284:Atrophy / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D012016:Reference Values; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C075222:amyloid beta-protein (1-42); D016875:tau Proteins