title: The ELISA-measured increase in cerebrospinal fluid tau that discriminates Alzheimer's disease from other neurodegenerative disorders is not attributable to differential recognition of tau assembly forms.
abstract: Elevated cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of tau discriminate Alzheimer's disease from other neurodegenerative conditions. The reasons for this are unclear. While commercial assay kits are widely used to determine total-tau concentrations, little is known about their ability to detect different aggregation states of tau. We demonstrate that the leading commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reliably detects aggregated and monomeric tau and evinces good recovery of both species when added into cerebrospinal fluid. Hence, the disparity between total-tau levels encountered in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions is not due to differential recognition of tau assembly forms or the extent of degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Research, Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
authors.forename: Seán T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: O'Dowd
authors.forename: Mustafa T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ardah
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Aleksey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lomakin
authors.forename: George B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Benedek
authors.forename: Kinley A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.forename: Omar M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: El Agnaf
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zetterberg
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Dominic M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Walsh
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016875:tau Proteins