Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Oct:70:125-127.
doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.06.014. Epub 2018 Jun 20.

No association of salivary total tau concentration with Alzheimer's disease

Affiliations

No association of salivary total tau concentration with Alzheimer's disease

Nicholas J Ashton et al. Neurobiol Aging. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

There is a need for an accessible biomarker that can complement current cerebrospinal fluid and imaging biomarkers in an accurate and early diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Saliva is a rich source of potential biomarkers and proteins related to neurodegenerative disorders have been shown to be present in this matrix, including tau. In this study, we quantified salivary total tau (t-tau) concentration in 160 healthy elderly control, 68 mild cognitive impairment, and 53 AD participants using ultrasensitive Single molecule array (Simoa) technology. No median difference in salivary t-tau concentration was found between AD and mild cognitive impairment or healthy elderly control (12.3 ng/L, 9.8 ng/L and 9.6 ng/L, respectively, p = 0.219). In addition, there was no association of salivary t-tau concentration with neurophysiological assessment or structural magnetic resonance imaging. Despite a nominal increase in AD, due to the large overlaps in concentrations between clinical groups, we conclude that salivary t-tau is a suitable biomarker neither for AD nor for cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Biomarkers; Diagnosis; Fluid-biomarkers; Immunoassays; Saliva; Tau.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types