Plasma Tau Variants Detected by a Novel Anti-Tau Monoclonal Antibody: A Potential Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background: A major drawback in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the lack of validated biomarkers for routine clinical diagnostic. We have reported earlier a novel blood biomarker, named Alz-tau (R), based on variants of platelet tau. This marker evaluates the ratio of high molecular weight tau (HMWtau) and the low molecular weight (LMWtau) tau.

Objective: To analyze a potential novel source of antigen for Alz-tau (R), plasma tau, detected by immunoreactivity with the novel monoclonal antibody, tau51.

Methods: We evaluated tau variants in plasma precipitated with ammonium sulfate from 36 AD patients and 15 control subjects by western blot with this novel monoclonal antibody.

Results: The HMW/LMWtau ratio was statistically different between AD patients and controls.

Conclusions: Plasma tau variants are suitable to be considered as a novel antigen source for the Alz-tau (R) biomarker for AD.