Plasma phosphorylated tau 217 detects amyloid-β in Neuronal Synuclein Disease
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Background
Multiple proteinopathies commonly coexist in neurodegenerative diseases, therefore it is critical to understand plasma biomarker performance to detect proteinopathies in these complex diseases. While plasma biomarkers can accurately detect amyloid-β in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, their performance accuracy is unknown in individuals with Neuronal Synuclein Disease (NSD).
Objective
To determine the accuracy of plasma pTau217, pTau181, Aβ42/40, GFAP, and NfL to detect amyloid-β in NSD. Additionally, to establish and validate cut-points for the most promising amyloid-β plasma biomarker in NSD.
Methods
This cross-sectional cohort study analyzed data from two observational cohorts from Stanford University and Sant Pau Hospital. The discovery cohort participants were biologically-defined by NSD and Aβ status among clinical Lewy body disease (LBD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), or cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals. The two validation cohorts consisted of clinically-defined LBD participants. Data were analyzed from 2/2024-3/2025. Plasma pTau217, pTau181, Aβ42/40, GFAP, and NfL were analyzed as potential biomarkers for amyloid-β in NSD, using cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42/40 and Aβ positron emission tomography as reference gold-standards. Diagnostic accuracy was determined using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis.
Results
We included 253 participants (mean[SD] age=71[9.9] years), 180 from the discovery cohort and 73 from the clinical validation cohorts. In the discovery cohort, plasma pTau217, pTau181, Aβ42/40, and GFAP levels significantly differed between Aβ+ and Aβ-participants, regardless of NSD status. Plasma NfL levels were significantly higher in the NSD+/Aβ+ group compared to all other groups. Plasma pTau217 showed the largest median fold-change between Aβ+ and Aβ-participants and demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance in detecting amyloid-β in NSD (Area Under the Curve=0.92, 95% CI=0.81-0.98). Applying one-or two-reference cut points for plasma pTau217 in the validation cohorts could reduce the need for additional amyloid-β testing in 41-56% of clinically-defined LBD participants.
Conclusions
Plasma pTau217 accurately detects amyloid-β in NSD individuals, with reproducible cut points in clinical LBD cohorts. Our findings demonstrate plasma pTau217 is a cost-effective and minimally-invasive tool for determining amyloid-β in mixed-etiology neurodegenerative diseases of aging.
