4 Evaluating Plasma GFAP for the Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia

Objective: Blood-based biomarkers represent a scalable and accessible approach for the detection and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and neurofilament light (NfL) are validated biomarkers for the detection of tau and neurodegenerative brain changes in AD, re...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2023-11, Vol.29 (s1), p.408-409
Main Authors: Ally, Madeline, Zetterberg, Henrik, Blennow, Kaj, Ashton, Nicholas J., Karikari, Thomas K., Aparicio, Hugo, Sugarman, Michael A., Frank, Brandon, Tripodis, Yorghos, McKee, Ann C., Stein, Thor D., Martin, Brett, Palmisano, Joseph N., Steinberg, Eric G., Simkina, Irene, Farrer, Lindsay, Jun, Gyungah, Turk, Katherine W., Budson, Andrew E., O’Connor, Maureen K., Au, Rhoda, Qiu, Wei Qiao, Goldstein, Lee E., Killiany, Ronald, Kowall, Neil W., Stern, Robert A., Mez, Jesse, Alosco, Michael L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Alzheimer's disease
Apolipoprotein E4
Biomarkers
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Dementia
Dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease)
Dementia disorders
Executive function
Glial fibrillary acidic protein
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neuropsychology
Plasma
Poster Session 04: Aging | MCI
Regression analysis
Tau protein
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: Blood-based biomarkers represent a scalable and accessible approach for the detection and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and neurofilament light (NfL) are validated biomarkers for the detection of tau and neurodegenerative brain changes in AD, respectively. There is now emphasis to expand beyond these markers to detect and provide insight into the pathophysiological processes of AD. To this end, a reactive astrocytic marker, namely plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), has been of interest. Yet, little is known about the relationship between plasma GFAP and AD. Here, we examined the association between plasma GFAP, diagnostic status, and neuropsychological test performance. Diagnostic accuracy of plasma GFAP was compared with plasma measures of p-tau181 and NfL. Participants and Methods: This sample included 567 participants from the Boston University (BU) Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Longitudinal Clinical Core Registry, including individuals with normal cognition (n=234), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n=180), and AD dementia (n=153). The sample included all participants who had a blood draw. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery (sample sizes across tests varied due to missingness). Diagnoses were adjudicated during multidisciplinary diagnostic consensus conferences. Plasma samples were analyzed using the Simoa platform. Binary logistic regression analyses tested the association between GFAP levels and diagnostic status (i.e., cognitively impaired due to AD versus unimpaired), controlling for age, sex, race, education, and APOE e4 status. Area under the curve (AUC) statistics from receiver operating characteristics (ROC) using predicted probabilities from binary logistic regression examined the ability of plasma GFAP to discriminate diagnostic groups compared with plasma p-tau181 and NfL. Linear regression models tested the association between plasma GFAP and neuropsychological test performance, accounting for the above covariates. Results: The mean (SD) age of the sample was 74.34 (7.54), 319 (56.3%) were female, 75 (13.2%) were Black, and 223 (39.3%) were APOE e4 carriers. Higher GFAP concentrations were associated with increased odds for having cognitive impairment (GFAP z-score transformed: OR=2.233, 95% CI [1.609, 3.099], p
ISSN:1355-6177
1469-7661
DOI:10.1017/S1355617723005428