Volume 10, Issue 1 p. 115-131
Review Article

The future of blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease

Kim Henriksen

Corresponding Author

Kim Henriksen

Nordic Bioscience Biomarkers and Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Herlev, Denmark

Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 44525219; Fax: +45 44525251. [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
Sid E. O'Bryant

Sid E. O'Bryant

Department of Internal Medicine, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

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Harald Hampel

Harald Hampel

Department of Psychiatry, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

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John Q. Trojanowski

John Q. Trojanowski

Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Disease Core Center, Udall Parkinson's Research Center, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

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Thomas J. Montine

Thomas J. Montine

Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

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Andreas Jeromin

Andreas Jeromin

NextGen Sciences, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

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Kaj Blennow

Kaj Blennow

Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Goteborg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Molndal, Sweden

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Anders Lönneborg

Anders Lönneborg

DiaGenic ASA, Oslo, Norway

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Tony Wyss-Coray

Tony Wyss-Coray

Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

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Holly Soares

Holly Soares

Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wallingford, CT, USA

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Chantal Bazenet

Chantal Bazenet

King's College London, Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, UK

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Magnus Sjögren

Magnus Sjögren

DiaGenic ASA, Oslo, Norway

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William Hu

William Hu

Department of Neurology, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

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Simon Lovestone

Simon Lovestone

King's College London, Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, UK

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Morten A. Karsdal

Morten A. Karsdal

Nordic Bioscience Biomarkers and Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Herlev, Denmark

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Michael W. Weiner

Michael W. Weiner

Departments of Medicine, Radiology, Psychiatry, and Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

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Blood-Based Biomarker Interest Group

Blood-Based Biomarker Interest Group

Departments of Medicine, Radiology, Psychiatry, and Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Additional Blood-Based Biomarker Interest Group members include Howard M. Fillit, Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, New York, NY, USA; Maria C. Carrillo, Medical & Scientific Relations, Alzheimer's Association, Chicago, IL, USA; Lisa J. Bain, Elverson, PA, USA; David Wholley and Judy Siuciak, The Biomarkers Consortium, Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, USA; David Holtzman, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA; Gary Kong, Edith Cowan University, Australia; Ralph Martins, Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia; Jeffrey Roche, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, USA; Andrew Saykin, Indiana University, Center for Neuroimaging, IN, USA; Robert Nagele, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, NJ, USA; Les Shaw, Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Disease Core Center, Udall Parkinson's Research Center, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Dwight German, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Diane Stephenson, Critical Path Institute, USA; Andrew Watt, Alzheimer's Australia Dementia Research Foundation, Australia; Tatiana Foroud, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Holly Soares, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wallingford, CT, USA; Christoph Laske, Section for Dementia Research, Hertie-Institute of Clinical Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), University of Tübingen, D-Tübingen, Germany; Monique Breteler, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Louis Kirby, ZettaScience, USA; Howard Schulman, Caprion Proteomics, USA; Kevin Barnham, Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Pedro Pesini, Araclon Biotech S.L., Spain; Tony Phelps, National Institutes of Aging, USA; Steve Younkin, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA; Thomas Kodadek, Departments of Chemistry & Cancer Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, FL, USA; Joyce Suhy, Synarc Imaging, San Fransisco, CA, USA; Dan Perry, Alliance for Aging Research, Washington, DC, USA; Rachel L. Nosheny, La Jolla, CA, and Stanford, CA, USA; Melissa Edwards, Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA; Hugo Vanderstiechele, ADxNeurosciences, Gent, Belgium.

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First published: 15 July 2013
Citations: 208
J. Q. Trojanowski may accrue revenue in the future on patents submitted by the University of Pennsylvania wherein he is co-inventor, and he received revenue from the sale of Avid to Eli Lily as co-inventor on imaging-related patents submitted by the University of Pennsylvania. M. A. Karsdal owns stock in Nordic Bioscience. Karsdal and K. Henriksen may accrue revenue from a patent submitted by Nordic Bioscience wherein they are inventors. K. Blennow has served on advisory boards for Innogenetics, Belgium. S. E. O'Bryant has a patent pending on a blood-based biomarker tool for the detection of Alzheimer's disease. M. Sjögren is Chief Medical Officer of DiaGenic ASA, is a shareholder of AstraZeneca, and has stock options in DiaGenic ASA and UCB Pharma. A. Lönneborg has stock and stock options in DiaGenic ASA. W. Hu may accrue revenue in the future on patents submitted by Emory University wherein he is inventor.

Abstract

Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is significantly hampered by the lack of easily accessible biomarkers that can detect disease presence and predict disease risk reliably. Fluid biomarkers of AD currently provide indications of disease stage; however, they are not robust predictors of disease progression or treatment response, and most are measured in cerebrospinal fluid, which limits their applicability. With these aspects in mind, the aim of this article is to underscore the concerted efforts of the Blood-Based Biomarker Interest Group, an international working group of experts in the field. The points addressed include: (1) the major challenges in the development of blood-based biomarkers of AD, including patient heterogeneity, inclusion of the “right” control population, and the blood–brain barrier; (2) the need for a clear definition of the purpose of the individual markers (e.g., prognostic, diagnostic, or monitoring therapeutic efficacy); (3) a critical evaluation of the ongoing biomarker approaches; and (4) highlighting the need for standardization of preanalytical variables and analytical methodologies used by the field.