Head-to-head comparison of p-tau species for Alzheimer’s disease detection in a real-world cohort

Phosphorylated tau (p-tau) is a valuable marker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and several species of p-tau in the blood have been shown to detect AD pathology with high accuracy. Marc Suárez-Calvet, MD, PhD, Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), Barcelona, Spain, shares the details of a head-to-head comparison of nine p-tau assays to determine their ability to distinguish AD from non-AD (based on cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42/p-tau181). Almost 200 patients from a real-world memory clinic were studied and all p-tau markers were found to be higher in the AD group compared to the non-AD group. All p-tau markers were able to significantly discriminate between AD and non-AD. The largest effect sizes were found in plasma Janssen P-tau217 (r = 0.76), Lilly P-tau217 (r = 0.73), ADx P-tau181 (r = 0.73), Lilly P-tau181 (r = 0.68), and UGot P-tau231 (r = 0.63). This interview took place at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2022 in San Diego, CA.