The global Alzheimer's Association round robin study on plasma amyloid ß methods.

INTRODUCTION: Blood-based assays to measure brain amyloid beta (Aß) deposition are an attractive alternative to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-based assays currently used in clinical settings. In this study, we examined different blood-based assays to measure Aß and how they compare among centers and assays. METHODS: Aliquots from 81 plasma samples were distributed to 10 participating centers. Seven immunological assays and four mass-spectrometric methods were used to measure plasma Aß concentrations. RESULTS: Correlations were weak for Aß42 while Aß40 correlations were stronger. The ratio Aß42/Aß40 did not improve the correlations and showed weak correlations. DISCUSSION: The poor correlations for Aß42 in plasma might have several potential explanations, such as the high levels of plasma proteins (compared to CSF), sensitivity to pre-analytical sample handling and specificity, and cross-reactivity of different antibodies. Different methods might also measure different pools of plasma Aß42. We, however, hypothesize that greater correlations might be seen in future studies because many of the methods have been refined during completion of this study.

Transferring cut-off values between assays for cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer's disease biomarkers.

Current technologies quantifying cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to identify subjects with Alzheimer's disease pathology report different concentrations in function of technology and suffer from between-laboratory variability. Hence, lab- and technology-specific cut-off values are required. It is common practice to establish cut-off values on small datasets and, in the absence of well-characterized samples, to transfer the cut-offs to another assay format using 'side-by-side' testing of samples with both assays. We evaluated the uncertainty in cut-off estimation and the performance of two methods of cut-off transfer by using two clinical datasets and simulated data. The cut-off for the new assay was transferred by applying the commonly-used linear regression approach and a new Bayesian method, which consists of using prior information about the current assay for estimation of the biomarker's distributions for the new assay. Simulations show that cut-offs established with current sample sizes are insufficiently precise and also show the effect of increasing sample sizes on the cut-offs' precision. The Bayesian method results in unbiased and less variable cut-offs with substantially narrower 95% confidence intervals compared to the linear-regression transfer. For the BIODEM datasets, the transferred cut-offs for INNO-BIA Aß1-42 are 167.5 pg/mL (95% credible interval [156.1, 178.0] and 172.8 pg/mL (95% CI [147.6, 179.6]) with Bayesian and linear regression methods, respectively. For the EUROIMMUN assay, the estimated cut-offs are 402.8 pg/mL (95% credible interval [348.0, 473.9]) and 364.4 pg/mL (95% CI [269.7, 426.8]). Sample sizes and statistical methods used to establish and transfer cut-off values have to be carefully considered to guarantee optimal diagnostic performance of biomarkers.

Diagnostic value of cerebrospinal fluid Aß ratios in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION: In this study of preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) we assessed the added diagnostic value of using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aß ratios rather than Aß42 in isolation for detecting individuals who are positive on amyloid positron emission tomography (PET). METHODS: Thirty-eight community-recruited cognitively intact older adults (mean age 73, range 65-80 years) underwent (18)F-flutemetamol PET and CSF measurement of Aß1-42, Aß1-40, Aß1-38, and total tau (ttau). (18)F-flutemetamol retention was quantified using standardized uptake value ratios in a composite cortical region (SUVRcomp) with reference to cerebellar grey matter. Based on a prior autopsy validation study, the SUVRcomp cut-off was 1.57. Sensitivities, specificities and cut-offs were defined based on receiver operating characteristic analysis with CSF analytes as variables of interest and (18)F-flutemetamol positivity as the classifier. We also determined sensitivities and CSF cut-off values at fixed specificities of 90 % and 95 %. RESULTS: Seven out of 38 subjects (18 %) were positive on amyloid PET. Aß42/ttau, Aß42/Aß40, Aß42/Aß38, and Aß42 had the highest accuracy to identify amyloid-positive subjects (area under the curve (AUC) ≥ 0.908). Aß40 and Aß38 had significantly lower discriminative power (AUC = 0.571). When specificity was fixed at 90 % and 95 %, Aß42/ttau had the highest sensitivity among the different CSF markers (85.71 % and 71.43 %, respectively). Sensitivity of Aß42 alone was significantly lower under these conditions (57.14 % and 42.86 %, respectively). CONCLUSION: For the CSF-based definition of preclinical AD, if a high specificity is required, our data support the use of Aß42/ttau rather than using Aß42 in isolation.

Longitudinal Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarker Changes in Preclinical Alzheimer Disease During Middle Age.

IMPORTANCE: Individuals in the presymptomatic stage of Alzheimer disease (AD) are increasingly being targeted for AD secondary prevention trials. How early during the normal life span underlying AD pathologies begin to develop, their patterns of change over time, and their relationship with future cognitive decline remain to be determined. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the within-person trajectories of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of AD over time and their association with changes in brain amyloid deposition and cognitive decline in cognitively normal middle-aged individuals. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: As part of a cohort study, cognitively normal (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] of 0) middle-aged research volunteers (n = 169) enrolled in the Adult Children Study at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, had undergone serial CSF collection and longitudinal clinical assessment (mean, 6 years; range, 0.91-11.3 years) at 3-year intervals at the time of analysis, between January 2003 and November 2013. A subset (n = 74) had also undergone longitudinal amyloid positron emission tomographic imaging with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) in the same period. Serial CSF samples were analyzed for ß-amyloid 40 (Aß40), Aß42, total tau, tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (P-tau181), visinin-like protein 1 (VILIP-1), and chitinase-3-like protein 1 (YKL-40). Within-person measures were plotted according to age and AD risk defined by APOE genotype (ε4 carriers vs noncarriers). Linear mixed models were used to compare estimated biomarker slopes among middle-age bins at baseline (early, 45-54 years; mid, 55-64 years; late, 65-74 years) and between risk groups. Within-person changes in CSF biomarkers were also compared with changes in cortical PiB binding and progression to a CDR higher than 0 at follow-up. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Changes in Aß40, Aß42, total tau, P-tau181, VILIP-1, and YKL-40 and, in a subset of participants, changes in cortical PiB binding. RESULTS: While there were no consistent longitudinal patterns in Aß40 (P = .001-.97), longitudinal reductions in Aß42 were observed in some individuals as early as early middle age (P ≤ .05) and low Aß42 levels were associated with the development of cortical PiB-positive amyloid plaques (area under receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.9352; 95% CI, 0.8895-0.9808), especially in mid middle age (P < .001). Markers of neuronal injury (total tau, P-tau181, and VILIP-1) dramatically increased in some individuals in mid and late middle age (P ≤ .02), whereas the neuroinflammation marker YKL-40 increased consistently throughout middle age (P ≤ .003). These patterns were more apparent in at-risk ε4 carriers (Aß42 in an allele dose-dependent manner) and appeared to be associated with future cognitive deficits as determined by CDR. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Longitudinal CSF biomarker patterns consistent with AD are first detectable during early middle age and are associated with later amyloid positivity and cognitive decline. Such measures may be useful for targeting middle-aged, asymptomatic individuals for therapeutic trials designed to prevent cognitive decline.