- August 18, 2025
Topic/Product:
Alzheimer's, Neurology
Abstract
At this year’s Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, held July 27-31 in Toronto, scientists introduced a plethora of new assays for biomarkers that could improve diagnosis and tracking of AD pathology. Topping the list were immunoassays for brain-derived (BD) phospho-tau isoforms that turn up in plasma. Data hot off the bench of the lab of Jonathan Schott, University College London, indicated that these tests outperformed those for systemic p-tau fragments in identifying people who have amyloid and tau pathology. “The BD versions are just much better,” Schott told a small audience during a product presentation hosted by Alamar Biosciences, Fremont, California. Alamar now include BD p-tau isoforms in its human CNS panel. The biotech company also debuted a Nulisa panel of 123 mouse CNS proteins in Toronto. They expect this will help scientists better understand changes going on in mouse models of AD, and hence in the human brain.
The data drew praise from people in the field. “Plasma BD-tau isoforms are really important,” Henrik Zetterberg, University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden, told Alzforum. “We can finally account for peripheral nerve damage that we might see in diabetes or ALS that can drive up plasma p-tau,” he said. Gil Rabinovici, University of California, San Francisco, expressed similar sentiments. “It is very exciting to have more precise ways to measure protein from the brain rather than picking up proteins in the peripheral pool as well,” he told Alzforum. “This is such a fast-moving field. The blood-based markers are rapidly getting better.”