A recently proposed new research framework defines patients affected by Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) based on pathological hallmarks, instead of symptoms or signs such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This research framework is intended to help guide studies developing potential new treatments for AD. The core of the research framework is to define patients according to the following biomarker levels: amyloid (Aβ), tau, and neurodegeneration status (A/T/N).

Currently, amyloid status can be assessed by imaging amyloid PET or Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) Aβ measurements, both of which are either extremely costly (PET) or require invasive procedures (CSF lumbar puncture). Both of these procedures, and the aspiration to define patients by these criteria, are estimated to result in ~80% patient screen failure rate and contribute to the extremely high costs of clinical trials in Alzheimer’s Disease. Ideally, a much simpler blood-based test for amyloid status would help to simplify clinical trials, reduce patient burden, and reduce the costs required to identify and characterize AD, particularly as clinical research moves into earlier stages of the disease where patients need to be identified in a pre-symptomatic state (no cognitive impairments).

The goal of this project is to perform an independent validation of the top performing blood plasma Aβ assays and determine which are the most robust in terms of having a high degree of correlation with amyloid PET or CSF Aβ levels. The desired outcome is to offer the research community guidance on which assays might help streamline clinical trials and aid in AD diagnosis.