Each study has a usefulness score out of 100 (rubric version 4.0). Tap a score to see what makes it up.
Highest usefulness score first. Studies without a score come last.
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Except for autosomal dominant early-onset families, genetic testing in asymptomatic individuals is unwarranted.
Why it matters
This consensus statement concludes that except for autosomal dominant early-onset families, genetic testing in asymptomatic individuals is unwarranted, and that APOE genetic testing as a diagnostic adjunct in patients with dementia is not recommended. It addresses ethical considerations rather than treatment or prevention.
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We developed a set of informant-based items describing performance of activities of daily living (ADL) by patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to identify which ADL are useful for assessment of patients in clinical trials.
Why it matters
This work developed informant-based items describing activities of daily living to identify which are useful for assessing patients in Alzheimer's disease clinical trials. It is a measurement-development study and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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47/100
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is found to have striking brain inflammation characterized by clusters of reactive microglia that surround senile plaques.
Why it matters
This laboratory study found that plaque-derived fractions containing full-length native amyloid beta 1-40 or 1-42 peptides caused microglia to release neurotoxins. It is cell-based work on immune activation and does not test any treatment in patients.
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Interleukin-1 (IL-1), an inflammatory cytokine overexpressed in the neuritic plaques of Alzheimer's disease, activates astrocytes and enhances production and processing of beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP).
Why it matters
This work proposes that the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 drives S100 beta and beta-APP overexpression and dystrophic neurite formation in Alzheimer's disease. It suggests a mechanism involving inflammation but reports no proven treatment or prevention.
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We studied executive function and autobiographical memory in a cohort of 33 DAT patients [divided into minimal (MMSE 24-30) and mild (MMSE 17-23) groups] and in 30 normal controls.
Why it matters
This study examined autobiographical memory and executive function in early dementia of Alzheimer type. It is a cognitive characterization study and provides no information on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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The neuropsychological tests developed for the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) are currently used to measure cognitive impairments of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in clinical investigations of this disorder.
Why it matters
Reports normal reference scores for the CERAD neuropsychological test battery from 413 control participants aged 50 to 89. In the more educated group, age and gender affected many test scores, while delayed recall adjusted for the amount of material learned (savings) was relatively unaffected by age, gender and education. The authors suggest savings scores may help distinguish Alzheimer's disease from normal aging.
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We have recently shown that the Alzheimer disease 40-residue amyloid beta-protein [A beta P-(1-40)] can form cation-selective channels when incorporated into planar lipid bilayers by fusion of liposomes containing the peptide.
Why it matters
In laboratory membranes, the amyloid-beta 1-40 peptide formed cation-selective channels, and this was also seen with the soluble form of the peptide. This suggests a possible mechanism for amyloid neurotoxicity, but it is in vitro work and no treatment was tested.
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The Columbia University Scale for Psychopathology in Alzheimer's disease is a new screening instrument developed for use by clinicians or trained lay interviewers.
Why it matters
This paper describes a new screening instrument for psychopathology in Alzheimer's disease and reports that delusional symptoms were frequently transient and often resolved when corrected by the caregiver. It suggests prior studies may have overestimated the prevalence of psychotic features by not using standard definitional criteria.
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The distribution of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and neuritic plaques (NPs) was mapped in 39 cortical areas of 11 brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Why it matters
Mapped tangles and plaques across 39 cortical areas in 11 brains of people with Alzheimer's. Tangles were densest in limbic and temporal areas while plaques were spread more evenly, and the authors suggest a consistent pattern of vulnerability that seems related to how cortical regions are connected.
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Western blots of normal human platelets, employing a monoclonal antibody raised against the full-length amyloid precursor protein of Alzheimer's disease (APP695), revealed major bands of 100-110 and 120-130 kDa in both cytosolic, membrane, and released fractions.
Why it matters
Human platelets were found to release amyloid precursor protein, and Western blots showed no difference between Alzheimer patients and controls. This laboratory finding does not provide a treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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47/100
The formation of beta-amyloid in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer disease requires the proteolytic cleavage of a membrane-associated precursor protein.
Why it matters
This study found that cathepsins D and B, normally lysosomal proteases, were highly immunoreactive in senile plaques in Alzheimer brains but not in control brains. It suggests a possible role for these proteases in beta-amyloid formation but does not provide a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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We quantified glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) using immunoblot techniques and anti-GFAP, in unfractionated homogenates of different brain regions from Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
Why it matters
GFAP levels were on average 11 times higher in brain regions from Alzheimer patients than in controls, including regions usually free of Alzheimer lesions. The significance of this increase is unknown, and no treatment, cure or prevention is reported.
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The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a brief test of cognitive function, has been widely used to screen for dementia.
Why it matters
This study examined the Mini-Mental State Examination in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and found that some patients with AD scored above the recommended cutoff. It is a diagnostic accuracy study and provides no information on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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47/100
Why it matters
Reports a cerebrovascular amyloid fibril protein shared by Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome.
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Between September 1972 and January 1976 an outbreak of dialysis dementia affected 20 patients maintained by long-term hemodialysis.
Why it matters
This report describes an outbreak of dialysis dementia in 20 hemodialysis patients that coincided with higher water aluminum levels, supporting a possible role for aluminum in causing that condition. It concerns dialysis dementia and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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46/100
Four cognitive phenotypes emerged. One phenotype (18% of Aβ+ participants) showed the steepest cognitive decline, highest progression on the CDR, greater baseline medial temporal tau, and fastest neocortical tau accumulation over 4.6 years (hazard ratio [HR] for decline ≈ 2.9).
Why it matters
Among amyloid-positive participants, one digital cognitive phenotype (18%) showed the steepest cognitive decline and fastest tau accumulation, and combining it with elevated plasma p-tau217 identified a subgroup at markedly amplified risk. This improves risk prediction in preclinical Alzheimer's disease but does not treat, cure, or prevent it.
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Converging evidence suggests that accumulation may be driven by spreading through network connections and/or interactions with amyloid-β (Aβ).
Why it matters
This study suggests that tau accumulation in atypical Alzheimer's disease subtypes may spread through brain network connections and interact with amyloid-beta. It is an observational study about disease progression patterns and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Alzheimer's blood-based biomarker (BBM) tests using single biomarkers or ratios are well characterized, but head-to-head comparisons of multi-analyte algorithmic tests on shared cohorts are lacking.
Why it matters
A five-biomarker algorithmic immunoassay blood test detected amyloid pathology with 0.94 area under the curve and 92%-93% accuracy, matching an immunoprecipitation mass-spectrometry benchmark on shared samples. This is a diagnostic comparison and provides no information about treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Among 5757 participants (21.7% Black, 20.3% Latinx, 58.1% AORE), we found lower odds of amyloid positivity in Black (odds ratio [OR]: 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62-0.83) and Latinx (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.67-0.91) compared to AORE.
Why it matters
This study found that amyloid PET scans were less often positive in Black and Latinx participants and more often positive in people from more deprived neighborhoods. It does not test any treatment, but the authors note the findings may matter for anti-amyloid therapies.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by progressive cognitive decline, highlighting the importance of cognitive assessment in both clinical practice and research.
Why it matters
Using data from 1,447 participants, this study modeled cognitive decline over about 20 years from amyloid positivity to dementia and found that different cognitive measures become abnormal at different times. This may help guide test selection and trial design but does not provide a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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46/100
EXT showed high cross-sectional reliability and longitudinal stability.
Why it matters
A new amyloid PET measure called EXT detected amyloid before global positivity, reclassified 21.4% of participants from amyloid-negative to amyloid-positive, and predicted progression to amyloid positivity 5.5 years later with 83% sensitivity and 94% specificity. The authors say this supports its relevance for trial enrichment and early therapeutic monitoring in Alzheimer's prevention trials.
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Significant alterations were observed in 7 lipid classes and 65 specific lipid species in DLB compared to AD.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional study found distinct plasma lipid signatures that differentiated dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer's disease, and machine learning identified an 11-lipid biomarker panel. These findings provide molecular insights and a promising diagnostic tool, but they concern diagnosis rather than treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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46/100
Plasma p-tau217-based biomarkers showed excellent detecting performance for early amyloid (Thal I-II; area under the curve values > 0.96) and intermediate tau (Braak III-IV; area under the curve values > 0.92).
Why it matters
Plasma p-tau217-based markers reflected PET-based amyloid and tau staging with high accuracy and identified threshold ranges. This could help identify candidates for disease-modifying therapies, but the study does not test whether using these thresholds improves treatment results.
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Of the 944 clinical cases, 13.0% were characterized as probable LATE (2.4% pure LATE and 10.6% LATE+AD) and 23.7% were characterized as probable AD without LATE.
Why it matters
Among 944 clinical cases, scans showed that pure LATE mainly affected the medial temporal lobe, while mixed LATE plus Alzheimer's disease affected the orbitofrontal and lateral temporal regions, with some cases showing combined effects of both pathologies. The authors say these findings help characterize LATE features objectively using scans from autopsy-proven cases, and that further investigation of the combined effects is warranted.
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46/100
This cross-sectional study examines data for participants in the Alzheimer Biomarker Consortium–Down Syndrome study to gauge the concordance of clinical and biological Alzheimer disease staging.
Why it matters
This study examines how well clinical staging matches biological staging of Alzheimer's disease in people with Down syndrome. It does not test a treatment or prevention, but aims to improve how the disease is classified in this high-risk group.
From across this topic
10 of the 5,172 studies in this topic, picked by a fixed rule (a hash of each study's address), not by score or date; each page of this list shows a different 10. The same 10 appear here every time.
- Home-based multimodal exercise program in older people with Alzheimer disease: Randomized controlled trial protocol
- Association of Amyloid Positron Emission Tomography With Changes in Diagnosis and Patient Treatment in an Unselected Memory Clinic Cohort: The ABIDE Project
- Research progress on ferroptosis mediated by ferritinophagy in Alzheimer′s disease
- "Thinking about it for somebody else": Alzheimer's disease research and proxy decision makers' translation of ethical principles into practice
- Protective effect of apolipoprotein E type 2 allele for late onset Alzheimer disease
- A Unique Microglia Type Associated with Restricting Development of Alzheimer's Disease
- Whole exome sequencing study identifies novel rare and common Alzheimer's-Associated variants involved in immune response and transcriptional regulation
- Systematic meta-analyses of Alzheimer disease genetic association studies: the AlzGene database
- Adeno-Associated Viral Vector (Serotype 2)-Nerve Growth Factor for Patients With Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Genetic assessment of age-associated Alzheimer disease risk: Development and validation of a polygenic hazard score