Discussion
The primary Aβ-based blood biomarker funnels individuals with suspected AD for subsequent validation of the diagnosis by structure-based combined analysis of the CSF biomarkers Aβ and tau. Our novel two-step recruitment strategy substantiates the diagnosis of AD with a likelihood of 29.
Methods
We applied an immuno-infrared sensor to measure the amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau secondary structure distribution in plasma and CSF as structure-based biomarkers for AD (61 disease controls, 39 AD cases).
Results
Within a first diagnostic screening step, the structure-based Aβ blood biomarker supports AD identification with a sensitivity of 90%. In a second diagnostic validation step, the combined use of the structure-based CSF biomarkers Aβ and tau excluded false-positive cases which offers an overall specificity of 97%.