Carla Abdelnour, PhD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, discusses the findings of a recent study aiming to determine if plasma phosphorylated-tau181 (p-tau181) can be used to identify Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) co-pathology in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Patients with DLB tend to present with AD co-pathology, so AD-related blood-based biomarkers may be useful as a screening tool. For this study, 245 patients were chosen from across the whole disease spectrum, including those who displayed no cognitive impairment through to those in the dementia stage. The data showed p-tau181 was able to identify AD co-pathology in patients with DLB, with these levels being higher in patients with DLB compared to cognitively normal and Parkinson’s disease with normal cognition groups. Furthermore, p-tau181 could identify patients at baseline who had worse cognitive and functional impairment and those who were likely to decline more quickly over 6 years of follow-up. Overall, the group suggest these findings support the use of p-tau181 as a screening tool to identify DLB patients with AD co-pathology. This interview took place at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC) 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
