Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Alzheimers Dement. 2024 May;20(5):3679-3686. doi: 10.1002/alz.13713. Epub 2024 Mar 25.
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in plasma is a proxy for astrocytic activity and is elevated in amyloid-β (Aβ)-positive individuals, making GFAP a potential blood-based biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
We assessed plasma GFAP in 72 Aβ-positive participants diagnosed with the visual or language variant of AD who underwent Aβ- and tau-PET. Fifty-nine participants had follow-up imaging. Linear regression was applied on GFAP and imaging quantities.
GFAP did not correlate with Aβ- or tau-PET cross-sectionally. There was a limited positive correlation between GFAP and rates of tau accumulation, particularly in the language variant of AD, although associations were weaker after removing one outlier patient with the highest GFAP level.
Among Aβ-positive AD participants with atypical presentations, plasma GFAP did not correlate with levels of AD pathology on PET, suggesting that the associations between GFAP and AD pathology might plateau during the advanced phase of the disease.
血浆中的神经胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）是星形胶质细胞活性的替代物，在淀粉样蛋白-β（Aβ）阳性个体中升高，使 GFAP 成为阿尔茨海默病（AD）潜在的基于血液的生物标志物。
我们评估了 72 名经视觉或语言 AD 变体诊断为 Aβ 阳性的参与者的血浆 GFAP，这些参与者接受了 Aβ 和 tau-PET 检查。59 名参与者进行了随访成像。对 GFAP 和成像量进行线性回归分析。
GFAP 与 Aβ 或 tau-PET 无横断面相关性。GFAP 与 tau 积累率之间存在有限的正相关，特别是在语言 AD 变体中，尽管在排除了一个 GFAP 水平最高的离群值患者后，相关性减弱。
在具有非典型表现的 Aβ 阳性 AD 参与者中，血浆 GFAP 与 PET 上的 AD 病理水平无相关性，这表明 GFAP 与 AD 病理之间的关联可能在疾病的晚期阶段趋于平稳。
