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Comprehensive evaluation of plasma tau biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease in a multicenter and multiethnic aging population
Lan G, Wang M, Gonzalez-Ortiz F, Zhang L, Li A, Li B, Jiang M, Yang J et al.. Nature aging, 2025-06-23
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Over 20% of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) worldwide are Chinese, although the efficacy of existing blood-based measures of AD biomarkers is largely unknown in Asian cohorts. Here we explored how plasma tau biomarkers correlated with cross-sectional and longitudinal AD-related outcomes and their diagnostic performance in 1,085 participants from three independent studies, including two Chinese cohorts, Greater-Bay-Area Healthy Aging Brain Study (n = 425) and Huashan (n = 297), and the North American Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort (n = 363). Plasma p-tau217 performed best in classifying Aβ-positron emission tomography (PET) and tau-PET positivity throughout the AD continuum and correlated with all AD-related outcomes. A two-cutoff approach suggested that participants with intermediate plasma p-tau217 levels experienced rapid accumulation of Aβ-PET and entorhinal tau-PET, as well as accelerated hypometabolism and cognitive decline. Increased plasma p-tau217 was also associated with rapid longitudinal changes in Aβ-PET, tau-PET and neurodegeneration. These results suggest that plasma p-tau217 is superior in detecting multiple aspects of AD-related pathological changes and tracking disease progression.
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APA 7th
Lan, G., Wang, M., Gonzalez-Ortiz, F., Zhang, L., Li, A., Li, B., et al. (2025). Comprehensive evaluation of plasma tau biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease in a multicenter and multiethnic aging population. Nature aging. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-00904-3
Vancouver
Lan G, Wang M, Gonzalez-Ortiz F, Zhang L, Li A, Li B, et al. Comprehensive evaluation of plasma tau biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease in a multicenter and multiethnic aging population. Nature aging. 2025. doi:10.1038/s43587-025-00904-3. PMID: 40550877.
BibTeX
@article{lan2025-40550877,
author = {Lan, G. and Wang, M. and Gonzalez-Ortiz, F. and Zhang, L. and Li, A. and Li, B. and Jiang, M. and Yang, J. and others},
title = {{Comprehensive evaluation of plasma tau biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease in a multicenter and multiethnic aging population}},
journal = {Nature aging},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1038/s43587-025-00904-3},
pmid = {40550877},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-00904-3}
}
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Key findings
- A two-cutoff approach suggested that participants with intermediate plasma p-tau217 levels experienced rapid accumulation of Aβ-PET and entorhinal tau-PET, as well as accelerated hypometabolism and cognitive decline.
- Increased plasma p-tau217 was also associated with rapid longitudinal changes in Aβ-PET, tau-PET and neurodegeneration.
- These results suggest that plasma p-tau217 is superior in detecting multiple aspects of AD-related pathological changes and tracking disease progression.
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Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Participants425
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 64/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for 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 and institution's track record, so those were left out: it earned 39 of the 61 points we could judge it on, which is 64 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Nature aging) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 425 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 | 2 / 3 | PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40550877) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 39 / 61 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 39 of the 61 points we could judge it on is 64 out of 100. |
| Total | 64 / 100 | — |
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