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Alzheimer's Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognition in older adults
Corbett A, Sander-Long M, Ashton NJ, Huber H, Vavra J, Braun-Wohlfahrt LS, Zetterberg H, Montoliu-Gaya L et al.. Nature communications, 2026-05-06
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Blood biomarkers are rapidly becoming established for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) diagnosis. However, there is a need for more scalable tools to reach the 99% of individuals with early cognitive impairment who are not seen in specialist healthcare services. A recent study validated a capillary blood sampling technique to detect the p-tau217 and GFAP biomarkers. Here we used our PROTECT research study to show that these biomarkers, when collected using self-administered fingerprick tests, correlate well with venous blood biomarkers and with cognition and function in 174 people who were cognitively normal or who had mild cognitive impairment or AD. They can be used in combination with computerised cognitive testing to identify people with the highest risk of AD. The GFAP biomarker appears to be associated with vascular risk, unlike p-tau217. Patient feedback indicates high acceptability and usability of the capillary test method, giving confidence in the feasibility of this technology. The work suggests that capillary blood biomarkers could be used to enable triage of people with varying levels of risk of AD in clinical practice and for clinical trials, and could be used outside of clinical settings.
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APA 7th
Corbett, A., Sander-Long, M., Ashton, N. J., Huber, H., Vavra, J., Braun-Wohlfahrt, L. S., et al. (2026). Alzheimer's Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognition in older adults. Nature communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71448-2
Vancouver
Corbett A, Sander-Long M, Ashton NJ, Huber H, Vavra J, Braun-Wohlfahrt LS, et al. Alzheimer's Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognition in older adults. Nature communications. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71448-2. PMID: 42091863.
BibTeX
@article{corbett2026-42091863,
author = {Corbett, A. and Sander-Long, M. and Ashton, N. J. and Huber, H. and Vavra, J. and Braun-Wohlfahrt, L. S. and Zetterberg, H. and Montoliu-Gaya, L. and others},
title = {{Alzheimer's Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognition in older adults}},
journal = {Nature communications},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-71448-2},
pmid = {42091863},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71448-2}
}
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Key findings
- The GFAP biomarker appears to be associated with vascular risk, unlike p-tau217.
- The work suggests that capillary blood biomarkers could be used to enable triage of people with varying levels of risk of AD in clinical practice and for clinical trials, and could be used outside of clinical settings.
Study details
- Participants174
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 59/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 34 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 59 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Nature communications) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 174 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multicenter collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 42091863) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 34 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 34 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 59 out of 100. |
| Total | 59 / 100 | — |
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