Serum GFAP levels correlate with astrocyte reactivity, post-mortem brain atrophy and neurofibrillary tangles

Abstract

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a proxy of astrocyte reactivity, has been proposed as biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is limited information about the correlation between blood biomarkers and post-mortem neuropathology. In a single-centre prospective clinicopathological cohort of 139 dementia patients, for which the time-frame between GFAP level determination and neuropathological assessment was exceptionally short (on average 139 days), we analysed this biomarker, measured at three time points, in relation to proxies of disease progression such as cognitive decline and brain weight. Most importantly, we investigated the use of blood GFAP to detect the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, while accounting for potential influences of the most frequent brain co-pathologies. The main findings demonstrated an association between serum GFAP level and post-mortem tau pathology (β = 12.85; P < 0.001) that was independent of amyloid deposits (β = 13.23; P = 0.02). A mediation analysis provided additional support for the role of astrocytic activation as a link between amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed between pre-mortem serum GFAP and brain weight at post-mortem (r = -0.35; P < 0.001). This finding, together with evidence of a negative correlation with cognitive assessments (r = -0.27; P = 0.005), supports the role of GFAP as a biomarker for disease monitoring, even in the late phases of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, the diagnostic performance of GFAP in advanced dementia patients was explored, and its discriminative power (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve at baseline = 0.91) in differentiating neuropathologically-confirmed Alzheimer's disease dementias from non-Alzheimer's disease dementias was determined, despite the challenging scenario of advanced age and frequent co-pathologies in these patients. Independently of Alzheimer's disease, serum GFAP levels were shown to be associated with two other pathologies targeting the temporal lobes-hippocampal sclerosis (β = 3.64; P = 0.03) and argyrophilic grain disease (β = -6.11; P = 0.02). Finally, serum GFAP levels were revealed to be correlated with astrocyte reactivity, using the brain GFAP-immunostained area as a proxy (ρ = 0.21; P = 0.02). Our results contribute to increasing evidence suggesting a role for blood GFAP as an Alzheimer's disease biomarker, and the findings offer mechanistic insights into the relationship between blood GFAP and Alzheimer's disease neuropathology, highlighting its ties with tau burden. Moreover, the data highlighting an independent association between serum GFAP levels and other neuropathological lesions provide information for clinicians to consider when interpreting test results. The longitudinal design and correlation with post-mortem data reinforce the robustness of our findings. However, studies correlating blood biomarkers and neuropathological assessments are still scant, and further research is needed to replicate and validate these results in diverse populations.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; astrocyte; blood biomarkers; neuropathology; tau.

Figure 1

TfGFAP levels by the pathological group at the three sample points.

Figure 2

Predicted values of serum tfGFAP by the age of extraction and by the level of post-mortem neuropathology. The age of extraction is centred at 86.4 years (1 SD = 6.3 years). The predicted values were calculated controlling by sex (female), estimated age at onset (mean = 75.11 years, 1SD = 7.5), and the time elapsed between time-point 1 and death date (mean = 2146 days, 1 SD = 992.457). ADNC = Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic change; SD = standard deviation; tfGFAP = GFAP levels normalized by the BoxCox transformation function.

Figure 3

Correlation between tfGFAP and brain atrophy. AD = Alzheimer’s disease; tfGFAP = GFAP levels normalized by the BoxCox transformation function.

Figure 4

Parameters estimated trough partial mediation model with serum GFAP (time point 3) as mediator between amyloid (NIA-A and NIA-C) and tau loads (NIA-B). Both models get acceptable goodness-of-fit indexes, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.067, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.98, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.96 and standardized root mean residual (SRMR) = 0.052 (n = 138) at the first model, and for the second model, RMSEA = 0.057, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97 and SRMR = 0.054 (n = 138). NIA-(A–C) = National Institute on Aging ABC method of assessing Alzheimer’s disease neuropathologic change.