"The paper's authors note that while "clock models based on amyloid and tau positron emission tomography have shown promise in predicting the onset of AD symptoms, a model based on plasma biomarkers would be more accessible." The scientists doing this research found that the ratio of phosphorylated to non-phosphorylated tau at position 217 ("%p-tau217") could predict the arrival of Alzheimer's symptoms within three and four years."
"Or, as Washington University School of Medicine's Suzanne Schindler told Nature, "[W]e do not recommend that any cognitively unimpaired individuals have any Alzheimer's disease biomarker test." Schindler told Nature that the current ways of searching for tau as a result of neurofibrillary tangles requires a significant amount of equipment; the idea of analyzing a blood sample is much less resource-dependent."
"When trying to anticipate a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, testing for the disease alone is only one factor to consider; there's also a matter of predicting the onset of symptoms. The latter is where research into a type of protein called tau comes into play. As a 2025 dispatch from Stanford Medicine pointed out, tau what neurofibrillary tangles are composed of, and neurofibrillary tangles are one of two key components of Alzheimer's disease."
Plasma phosphorylated tau at position 217 (%p-tau217) predicts Alzheimer's symptom onset within three to four years, offering potential utility for group-level studies. Existing clock models using amyloid and tau PET show predictive promise, but plasma biomarker models would increase accessibility and reduce equipment demands. Current results limit individual clinical decision-making and do not support biomarker testing for cognitively unimpaired individuals. Blood-based tau assays could lower resource barriers compared with imaging methods, but additional validation and research are required before routine clinical implementation or broad use in individual prognostication.
Read at InsideHook
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