CTAD 2024 Fuels the Momentum in Advancing Alzheimer’s Disease Detection & Treatment with a Spotlight on Blood-Based Biomarkers

The Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) conference brought together the world's leading Alzheimer's Disease (AD) researchers, and among the breakthroughs discussed, a spotlight remained focused on blood-based biomarkers and how they continue to rapidly advance AD research.

Simoa® was featured in many presentations this year. The ultra-sensitive biomarker technology is clearly a powerful research tool enabling key discoveries in the next stages of AD diagnostics and drug discovery.

Mapping AD plasma biomarker trajectories along the amyloid and Tau clocks

University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)

Consistent amyloid accumulation is a major characteristic of disease progression in AD and can be used to predict symptom onset. Similarly, Tau tangle accumulation, may also offer an opportunity to estimate Tau pathology progression. This study, as part of the FNIH biomarker consortium Aβ and Tau project, used samples with longitudinal amyloid and Tau PET from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) trial.

Using multiple commercially available Simoa® assays - ALZpath p-Tau217 assay, Janssen's p217+Tau and the Neurology 4-Plex E (N4PE) assay that detects Aβ42, Aβ40, GFAP, NfL, a set of key plasma biomarkers were measured and analysed along the timelines constructed based on amyloid and Tau PET, termed the amyloid clock and Tau clock, respectively.

The study found that Aβ42/40 was the earliest to reach abnormality along the amyloid and symptom clocks, and closely trailing GFAP as the second earliest on the Tau clock. Additionally, plasma Aβ42/40 measures appeared to reach a plateau after over a decade of amyloid positivity, whereas plasma p-Tau217, GFP and NfL continued to increase along all three timelines, reinforcing the potential of these three biomarkers for disease staging.

A published preprint of the study, can be found here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.25.24316144v2

Plasma p-Tau217 for amyloid and Tau staging

Seoul National University Hospital

In this study, Plasma p-Tau217 was measured at the University of Gothenburg using the Simoa® ALZpath p-Tau217 assay. In a cohort of over 2,900 participants, scientists from Seoul National University Hospital found that plasma p-Tau217 effectively distinguished between amyloid- and tau-positive versus negative profiles. Plasma p-Tau217 was effective in topographic staging of amyloid (global+ and striatum+) and tau (neocortical- vs neocortical+), but less effective in identifying medial temporal tau (medial temporal- vs. medial temporal+). Longitudinal follow-up data indicated that plasma p-Tau217-based staging for both amyloid and tau profiles revealed distinct cognitive trajectories, showing progressive worsening from double-negative to double-positive participants.

Fireside chat with Professor Henrik Zetterburg

Quanterix sponsored a fireside chat with long-term collaborator, Professor Henrik Zetterburg from the University of Gothenburg. Professor Zetterburg highlighted milestone discoveries in the blood-based biomarker revolution, while acknowledging the power of ultra-sensitive technologies in enabling these and future advancements.

Listen to a clip from the fireside chat below:

A Successful Conference with Hope for the Future

Our team had a wonderful time in Spain connecting with the research and diagnostic community. The data, discussions, and forward-looking vision at CTAD 2024 resulted in another successful conference with tremendous hope and promise for a brighter future in the fight against AD.

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