Cerebrospinal fluid tau and Abeta42 as predictors of development of Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Neurosci Lett. 1999 Sep 24;273(1):5-8. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00617-5.

Abstract

We studied CSF-tau and CSF-Abeta42 in 16 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who at follow-up investigations 6-27 months later had progressed to Alzheimer's disease (AD) with dementia. For comparison, we studied 15 age-matched healthy individuals. At baseline, 14/16 (88%) of MCI patients had high CSF-tau and/or low CSF-Abeta42 levels. These findings show that these CSF-markers are abnormal before the onset of clinical dementia and that they may help to identify MCI patients that will develop AD. This is especially important when drugs with potential effects on the progression of AD will reach the clinical phase.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Alzheimer Disease / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Alzheimer Disease / psychology
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Cognition Disorders / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Cognition Disorders / psychology
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Peptide Fragments / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • tau Proteins / cerebrospinal fluid*

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Peptide Fragments
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)
  • tau Proteins