A possible blood plasma biomarker for early-stage Alzheimer's disease

PLoS One. 2022 Apr 21;17(4):e0267407. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267407. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

We sought to identify a usable biomarker from blood samples to characterize early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, in order to facilitate rapid diagnosis, early therapeutic intervention, and monitoring of clinical trials. We compared metabolites from blood plasma in early-stage Alzheimer's disease patients with blood plasma from healthy controls using two different analytical platforms: Amino Acid Analyzer and Tandem Mass-Spectrometer. Early-stage Alzheimer's patient blood samples were obtained during an FDA-approved Phase IIa clinical trial (Clinicaltrial.gov NCT03062449). Participants included 25 early-stage Alzheimer's patients and 25 healthy controls in the United States. We measured concentrations of 2-aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate and taurine in blood plasma samples. We found that plasma concentrations of a phospholipid metabolite, 2-aminoethyl dihydrogen phosphate, normalized by taurine concentrations, distinguish blood samples of patients with early-stage AD. This possible new Alzheimer's biomarker may supplement clinical diagnosis for early detection of the disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease* / blood
  • Alzheimer Disease* / drug therapy
  • Biomarkers* / blood
  • Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic
  • Humans
  • Phosphates
  • Plasma
  • Taurine / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Phosphates
  • Taurine

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the William Stamps Farish Fund and the Josephine P. & John J. Louis Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.