Advantages and disadvantages of the use of the CSF Amyloid β (Aβ) 42/40 ratio in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

• Published in: Alzheimer's research & therapy Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 34 - 15
• Main Authors: Hansson, Oskar, Lehmann, Sylvain, Otto, Markus, Zetterberg, Henrik, Lewczuk, Piotr
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 22.04.2019; BMC
• Subjects: Accuracy; Alzheimer Disease - cerebrospinal fluid; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid beta-Peptides - cerebrospinal fluid; Amyloidβ Peptides; Aβ42/40 ratio; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - cerebrospinal fluid; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Clinical Medicine; Dementia; Geriatric Psychiatry; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Geriatry and gerontology; Human health and pathology; Humans; Klinisk medicin; Life Sciences; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical diagnosis; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Meetings; Neurobiology; Neurodegeneration; Neurologi; Neurology; Neurons and Cognition; Neurosciences; Pathology; Peptide Fragments - cerebrospinal fluid; Review; Working groups; Biomarkers; Aβ; Alzheimer’s Disease; Amyloidβ Peptides; Cerebrospinal Fluid; ratio; Aβ42/40 ratio; Alzheimer's Disease; Aβ 42/40 ratio
• ISSN: 1758-9193; 1758-9193
• DOI: 10.1186/s13195-019-0485-0

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biochemical markers (biomarkers) Amyloidβ 42 (Aβ 42 ), total Tau (T-tau) and Tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (P-tau 181 ) have proven diagnostic accuracy for mild cognitive impairment and dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). In an effort to improve the accuracy of an AD diagnosis, it is important to be able to distinguish between AD and other types of dementia (non-AD). The concentration ratio of Aβ 42 to Aβ 40 (Aβ 42/40 Ratio) has been suggested to be superior to the concentration of Aβ 42 alone when identifying patients with AD. This article reviews the available evidence on the use of the CSF Aβ 42/40 ratio in the diagnosis of AD. Based on the body of evidence presented herein, it is the conclusion of the current working group that the CSF Aβ 42/40 ratio, rather than the absolute value of CSF Aβ 42 , should be used when analysing CSF AD biomarkers to improve the percentage of appropriately diagnosed patients.