A novel panel of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease versus normal aging and frontotemporal dementia

Background: An early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease ( AD) is important in order to initiate symptomatic treatment with currently approved drugs and will be of even greater importance with the advent of disease-modifying compounds. Methods: Protein profiles of human cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with AD (n = 85), frontotemporal dementia ( n = 20), and healthy controls ( n = 32) were analyzed by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to verify previously discovered biomarkers. Results: We verified 15 protein biomarkers that were able to differentiate between AD and controls, and 7 of these 15 markers also differentiated AD from FTD. Conclusion: A panel of cerebrospinal fluid protein markers was verified by a proteomics technology which may potentially improve the accuracy of the AD diagnosis. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.