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Plasma tau in Alzheimer disease
Mattsson N, Zetterberg H, Janelidze S, Insel PS, Andreasson U, Stomrud E, Palmqvist S, Baker D et al.. Neurology, 2016-09-30
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Objective To test whether plasma tau is altered in Alzheimer disease (AD) and whether it is related to changes in cognition, CSF biomarkers of AD pathology (including β-amyloid [Aβ] and tau), brain atrophy, and brain metabolism. Methods This was a study of plasma tau in prospectively followed patients with AD (n = 179), patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 195), and cognitive healthy controls (n = 189) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and cross-sectionally studied patients with AD (n = 61), mild cognitive impairment (n = 212), and subjective cognitive decline (n = 174) and controls (n = 274) from the Biomarkers for Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably (BioFINDER) study at Lund University, Sweden. A total of 1284 participants were studied. Associations were tested between plasma tau and diagnosis, CSF biomarkers, MRI measures, 18 fluorodeoxyglucose-PET, and cognition. Results Higher plasma tau was associated with AD dementia, higher CSF tau, and lower CSF Aβ 42 , but the correlations were weak and differed between ADNI and BioFINDER. Longitudinal analysis in ADNI showed significant associations between plasma tau and worse cognition, more atrophy, and more hypometabolism during follow-up. Conclusions Plasma tau partly reflects AD pathology, but the overlap between normal aging and AD is large, especially in patients without dementia. Despite group-level differences, these results do not support plasma tau as an AD biomarker in individual people. Future studies may test longitudinal plasma tau measurements in AD.
Key findings
- Results Higher plasma tau was associated with AD dementia, higher CSF tau, and lower CSF Aβ 42 , but the correlations were weak and differed between ADNI and BioFINDER.
- Longitudinal analysis in ADNI showed significant associations between plasma tau and worse cognition, more atrophy, and more hypometabolism during follow-up.
- Despite group-level differences, these results do not support plasma tau as an AD biomarker in individual people.
Why it matters
In 1,284 people from two cohorts (ADNI and Sweden's BioFINDER), higher plasma tau went with Alzheimer dementia and with CSF signs of Alzheimer pathology, but the correlations were weak and differed between the cohorts. The authors found "the overlap between normal aging and AD is large, especially in patients without dementia," and concluded the results "do not support plasma tau as an AD biomarker in individual people." In ADNI, higher plasma tau was linked with worse cognition, more atrophy and more hypometabolism over follow-up, but only at the group level.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Participants179
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 74/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over 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 | 1 / 5 | 2016 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 179 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) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 502 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 41.8 citations a year over 12 year(s) since 2016 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 34.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 4 / 6 | Cited by 51 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 118 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Kaj Blennow: h-index 220 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, San Francisco: institution h-index 1,915 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 10 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 27694257) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 74 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Mattsson, N., Zetterberg, H., Janelidze, S., Insel, P. S., Andreasson, U., Stomrud, E., et al. (2016). Plasma tau in Alzheimer disease. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000003246
Vancouver
Mattsson N, Zetterberg H, Janelidze S, Insel PS, Andreasson U, Stomrud E, et al. Plasma tau in Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2016. doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000003246. PMID: 27694257.
BibTeX
@article{mattsson2016-27694257,
author = {Mattsson, N. and Zetterberg, H. and Janelidze, S. and Insel, P. S. and Andreasson, U. and Stomrud, E. and Palmqvist, S. and Baker, D. and others},
title = {{Plasma tau in Alzheimer disease}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.0000000000003246},
pmid = {27694257},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000003246}
}
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