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Performance of upper-arm capillary blood collection for Alzheimers disease and central nervous system biomarkers: comparison of Tasso+ and venous plasma
Atri, T. E.; Denkinger, M. N.; Liu, J.; Singh, A.; Surdyn, M.; Brown, V. A.; Martinez, G.; Teran et al.. medRxiv (preprint), 2026-08-20
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
INTRODUCTIONNovel capillary-blood collection methods have not yet been evaluated for a wide range of central nervous system (CNS) and neurodegenerative disease-related proteins. Biomarkers of Alzheimers disease (AD) and related disorders (ADRD) collected from devices like the Tasso+, a minimally invasive upper-arm capillary blood collection device, must be compared to traditional venipuncture to assess for validity. METHODSParticipants underwent blood collection via traditional venipuncture and Tasso+ in a clinical research setting. The Nucleic Acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay (NULISA) CNS panel was used for biomarker quantification in venous and Tasso-derived plasma. RESULTSEighty-three participants (age mean{+/-}SD 76.8{+/-}8.2 years, 79.5% cognitively unimpaired) completed blood collection. Little to no correlation was found between venous and Tasso+ plasma for p-tau217, but the correlation was improved by using a brain-derived (BD)-p-tau217/BD-p-tau181 ratio. Extremely strong correlations were found for neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Among the 131 biomarkers measured, 51 (38.9%) had a Pearson R [≥] 0.90; 27 (20.6%) had values between 0.70-0.90; 26 (19.9%) had values between 0.30-0.70; and 27 (20.6%) had values [≤]0.30. DISCUSSIONThe Tasso+ accurately measures NfL and GFAP, but caution is warranted when measuring other AD/ADRD biomarkers, as agreement with venous plasma appears to be protein or ratio dependent. These results highlight that important biomarker-specific differences must be considered when translating capillary blood collection approaches. They also further support foundations for development of these methods, highlighting both the opportunities and remaining challenges for translating the promise of blood-based biomarkers beyond AD/ADRD specialty clinics and research settings.
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APA 7th
Atri, T. E., Denkinger, M. N., Liu, J., Singh, A., Surdyn, M., Brown, V. A., et al. (2026). Performance of upper-arm capillary blood collection for Alzheimers disease and central nervous system biomarkers: comparison of Tasso+ and venous plasma. medRxiv (preprint). https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.08.13.26360406
Vancouver
Atri TE, Denkinger MN, Liu J, Singh A, Surdyn M, Brown VA, et al. Performance of upper-arm capillary blood collection for Alzheimers disease and central nervous system biomarkers: comparison of Tasso+ and venous plasma. medRxiv (preprint). 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.08.13.26360406.
BibTeX
@article{atri2026-c6e9e809,
author = {Atri, T. E. and Denkinger, M. N. and Liu, J. and Singh, A. and Surdyn, M. and Brown, V. A. and Martinez, G. and Teran and others},
title = {{Performance of upper-arm capillary blood collection for Alzheimers disease and central nervous system biomarkers: comparison of Tasso+ and venous plasma}},
journal = {medRxiv (preprint)},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.13.26360406},
url = {https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.08.13.26360406}
}
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Key findings
- Biomarkers of Alzheimers disease (AD) and related disorders (ADRD) collected from devices like the Tasso+, a minimally invasive upper-arm capillary blood collection device, must be compared to traditional venipuncture to assess for validity.
- These results highlight that important biomarker-specific differences must be considered when translating capillary blood collection approaches.
Why it matters
A minimally invasive upper-arm capillary blood device measured some brain-related proteins, such as NfL and GFAP, in strong agreement with standard venous blood, but p-tau217 correlated poorly. The authors caution that biomarker-specific differences must be considered before this approach is used for other Alzheimer's biomarkers.
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Study details
- Effect size79.5%; 38.9%; 20.6%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 16/100
Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 28 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on impact for its field and year, so that was left out: it earned 26 of the 94 points we could judge it on, which is 28 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 2 / 10 | Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (medRxiv (preprint)) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count |
| 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 | 4 / 10 | Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.5 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026 |
| 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 | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Nicholas James Ashton: h-index 91 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 26 / 94 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 26 of the 94 points we could judge it on is 28 out of 100. |
| Total | 28 / 100 | Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article. |
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