Recent advances in pre-clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common dementia with currently no known cures or disease modifying treatments (DMTs), despite much time and effort from the field. Diagnosis and intervention of AD during the early pre-symptomatic phase of the disease is thought to be a more effective strategy. Therefore, the detection of biomarkers has emerged as a critical tool for monitoring the effect of new AD therapies, as well as identifying patients most likely to respond to treatment. The establishment of the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration (A/T/N) framework in 2018 has codified the contexts of use of AD biomarkers in neuroimaging and bodily fluids for research and diagnostic purposes. Furthermore, a renewed drive for novel AD biomarkers and innovative methods of detection has emerged with the goals of adding additional insight to disease progression and discovery of new therapeutic targets. The use of biomarkers has accelerated the development of AD drugs and will bring new therapies to patients in need. This review highlights recent methods utilized to diagnose antemortem AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Amyloid; Biomarkers; Neurodegeneration; Neuroimaging; Tau.