When Does Alzheimer's Disease Really Start? The Role of Biomarkers

Abstract

While Alzheimer's disease (AD) classical diagnostic criteria rely on clinical data from a stablished symptomatic disease, newer criteria aim to identify the disease in its earlier stages. For that, they incorporated the use of AD's specific biomarkers to reach a diagnosis, including the identification of Aβ and tau depositions, glucose hypometabolism, and cerebral atrophy. These biomarkers created a new concept of the disease, in which AD's main pathological processes have already taken place decades before we can clinically diagnose the first symptoms. Therefore, AD is now considered a dynamic disease with a gradual progression, and dementia is its final stage. With that in mind, new models were proposed, considering the orderly increment of biomarkers and the disease as a continuum, or the variable time needed for the disease's progression. In 2011, the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) created separate diagnostic recommendations for each stage of the disease continuum-preclinical, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. However, new scientific advances have led them to create a unifying research framework in 2018 that, although not intended for clinical use as of yet, is a step toward shifting the focus from the clinical symptoms to the biological alterations and toward changing the future diagnostic and treatment possibilities. This review aims to discuss the role of biomarkers in the onset of AD.

Keywords: AD dynamic; AD spectrum; CSF; biomarkers; dementia; imaging biomarkers.

Figure 1

Evolution of the different AD biomarkers along time. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ and Pittsburgh compound B positron emission tomography (PiB-PET) abnormalities appear first followed by an increase in CSF tau levels and finally by structural alterations evidenced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluoro-d-glucose tracer positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) (blue). The presence of risk factor determines the onset of the disease. People with low risk factors will present cognitive decline later than those with high risk factor (green).