New Technique Tracks a Culprit of Alzheimer's in Spinal Fluid

New Atlas reports that a study in Brain describes a new technique that can reportedly detect a biomarker of Alzheimer's in cerebrospinal fluid, which could lead to earlier diagnoses and more effective treatments. The researchers examined a key building block of tau tangles called microtubule binding region tau (MTBR), and they treated samples of cerebrospinal fluid with a set of chemicals, which works to purify tau, in combination with mass spectrometry to analyze the solution's constituents. The team applied the method to samples from 100 subjects in their 70s. Thirty lacked cognitive impairment or signs of Alzheimer's, 58 had amyloid plaques with either no cognitive symptoms or mild or moderate Alzheimer's dementia, and 12 had cognitive impairment from unrelated conditions. In persons with Alzheimer's, levels of a specific MTBR variant called MTBR tau 243 were elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid. Its concentration also increased in line with the severity of cognitive impairment and dementia. In subjects monitored over two to nine years, MTBR tau 243 levels continued to significantly grow in those with worsening Alzheimer's. "This could be a way for us to not only diagnose Alzheimer's disease but tell where people are in the disease," suggested Kate Horie with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.