Background: We aimed to evaluate the precision of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegeneration biomarker measurements from venous dried plasma spots (DPS ) for the diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases in remote settings.
Methods: In a discovery (n = 154) and a validation cohort (n = 115), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP); neurofilament light (NfL); amyloid beta (Aβ) 40, Aβ42; and phosphorylated tau (p-tau181 and p-tau217) were measured in paired DPS and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid plasma samples with single-molecule array. In the validation cohort, a subset of participants (n = 99) had cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers.
Introduction: Recent evidence has shown that the marker of reactive astrogliosis, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), has a stronger relationship with cerebral amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology in blood than in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This study investigates if pre-analytical treatment of blood and CSF contribute to these unexpected findings.
Methods: Paired CSF and serum samples from 49 individuals (Aβ-negative = 28; Aβ-positive = 21) underwent a series of seven freeze-thaw cycles (FTCs).