A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies Which Measure Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease, with no effective treatment or
cure. A gold standard therapy would be treatment to slow or halt disease progression; however, knowledge of causation
in the early stages of AD is very limited. In order to determine effective endpoints for possible therapies, a number of
quantitative surrogate markers of disease progression have been suggested, including biochemical and imaging biomarkers.
The dynamics of these various surrogate markers over time, particularly in relation to disease development, are, however,
not well characterized. We reviewed the literature for studies that measured cerebrospinal fluid or plasma amyloid-and
tau, or took magnetic resonance image or fluorodeoxyglucose/Pittsburgh compound B-positron electron tomography scans,
in longitudinal cohort studies. We summarized the properties of the major cohort studies in various countries, commonly
used diagnosis methods and study designs. We have concluded that additional studies with repeat measures over time in a
representative population cohort are needed to address the gap in knowledge of AD progression. Based on our analysis, we
suggest directions in which research could move in order to advance our understanding of this complex disease, including
repeat biomarker measurements, standardization and increased sample sizes.
cure. A gold standard therapy would be treatment to slow or halt disease progression; however, knowledge of causation
in the early stages of AD is very limited. In order to determine effective endpoints for possible therapies, a number of
quantitative surrogate markers of disease progression have been suggested, including biochemical and imaging biomarkers.
The dynamics of these various surrogate markers over time, particularly in relation to disease development, are, however,
not well characterized. We reviewed the literature for studies that measured cerebrospinal fluid or plasma amyloid-and
tau, or took magnetic resonance image or fluorodeoxyglucose/Pittsburgh compound B-positron electron tomography scans,
in longitudinal cohort studies. We summarized the properties of the major cohort studies in various countries, commonly
used diagnosis methods and study designs. We have concluded that additional studies with repeat measures over time in a
representative population cohort are needed to address the gap in knowledge of AD progression. Based on our analysis, we
suggest directions in which research could move in order to advance our understanding of this complex disease, including
repeat biomarker measurements, standardization and increased sample sizes.
Date Issued
2017-08-14
Date Acceptance
2017-06-14
Citation
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE, 2017, 59 (4), pp.1359-1379
ISSN
1387-2877
Publisher
IOS Press
Start Page
1359
End Page
1379
Journal / Book Title
JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
Volume
59
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© IOS Press and the Authors. CC BY NC
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Neurosciences
Neurosciences & Neurology
Alzheimer's disease
biomarker
cross-sectional
dementia
longitudinal
MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
WHITE-MATTER HYPERINTENSITIES
PLASMA AMYLOID-BETA
POSITRON-EMISSION-TOMOGRAPHY
MULTICENTER CLINICAL-TRIALS
TENSOR-BASED MORPHOMETRY
PITTSBURGH COMPOUND-B
BRAIN VOLUME CHANGES
CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID
HIPPOCAMPAL ATROPHY
Publication Status
Published