title: Neurochemical dementia diagnostics in Alzheimer's disease: where are we now and where are we going?
abstract: Neurochemical dementia diagnostics (NDD) is a routine laboratory tool used in the diagnostic process for patients with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Currently, two groups of biomarkers analyzed in the cerebrospinal fluid are considered - namely amyloid-β peptides and Tau proteins - along with the hyperphosphorylated forms of the latter (pTau). Current directions in the development of NDD include the following: search for novel biomarkers with improved analytical or diagnostic performance; optimization of the analysis of the biomarkers already available (e.g., by improved quality control and interlaboratory comparison of results); applications of novel technologies enabling better management of patient samples; and search for biomarkers in the blood. This article presents the state-of-the-art in the field of cerebrospinal fluid-based NDD, and also summarizes some of the hypotheses of how the future development of NDD tools might look.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. piotr.lewczuk@uk-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lewczuk
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D009448:Neurochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers