Alzheimer’s disease (AD) causes gradual cognitive decline and dementia. Until recently, the definitive diagnosis of AD was based on autopsy assessments of brain amyloid-β plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles, the defining biological features of AD.
Biomarkers of amyloid-β and tau are vital for measuring AD pathology in living people and for differentiating between different neurodegenerative diseases. With the latest progress in AD research, accurate in-vivo diagnosis of AD is becoming increasingly crucial.
In this video Joseph Therriault, PhD discusses the AD biomarkers and their use in clinical and research settings and explore future research areas for wider clinical practice use.
Joseph Therriault, PhD, McGill Centre for Studies in Aging. Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia worldwide, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a state where an individual has lost the ability to carry out daily life activities independently because of cognitive impairment that is not due to an underlying psychiatric condition. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) refers to the abnormal presence of Aβ and tau proteins, which define AD among many other neurodegenerative diseases. Dementia -including dementia due to AD- is likely to be underestimated because of underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis.