Products - Antigen detection - Neurodegenerative diseases - Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease

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Disease information

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease which is the most important cause of dementia. It is pretty common in the elderly with the prevalence doubling every five years after the age of 65. About 30 percent of all individuals over 90 suffer from the disease.

Alzheimer’s disease involves irreversible deterioration of cognitive abilities. The course of the disease is divided into 3 stages: preclinical, MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and then dementia. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease have hyperphosphorylated tau proteins accumulate in the form of neurofibrillary tangles in the nerve cells. Tau proteins are responsible for stabilizing the microtubules of the neuronal cytoskeletal framework. Hyper-phosphorylation of these proteins results in the disease pathology. The regions typically affected are the brain cortex and limbic regions.

Outside of nerve cells, there is accumulation of beta amyloid plaques. These peptides are produced by the processing of membrane bound amyloid precursor protein (APP). Normally, this precursor protein undergoes alpha breakdown. During Alzheimer’s, the processing is impaired such that it undergoes beta cleavage and yields beta amyloid plaques.

Diagnostic Guidelines

Definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is possible only post-mortem by histological examination of the brain tissue sample (for neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques). However, the diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease can be made during the lifetime of a patient based upon the clinical picture (dementia) after ruling out all possible reversible causes. Currently a technique called positron emission tomography (PET) can be used to visualize neuropathological changes in living patients. Moreover, the estimation of biomarkers in CSF also provides a reliable means for Alzheimer’s diagnostics.

Patients who develop Alzheimer’s disease have decreased concentrations of AB(1-42) and as early as 5 to 10 years before the onset of cognitive changes. The concentrations of tau protein however increase pTau(181). Moreover, the amyloid quotient AB(1-42)/AB(1-40) helps to differentiate between Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. The result obtained through CSF-based analysis should always be assessed with all available diagnostic information before resorting to a definitive diagnosis.

Alzheimer’s Disease products

The individual product regulatory statements may vary, please refer to the instructions for use for more information.

wdt_ID Method Parameter Species/ Antigen
644 ELISA beta-amyloid (1-40)
determination in CSF
human
645 ChLIA control set
beta-amyloid (1-40)
determination in CSF
human
646 RA_LUMINESZENZ beta-amyloid (1-40)
determination in CSF
human
647 ELISA beta-amyloid (1-42)
determination in CSF
human
648 ChLIA beta-amyloid (1-42)
determination in CSF
human
649 ChLIA control set
beta-amyloid (1-42)
determination in CSF
human
650 ELISA total tau
determination in CS
human
651 ELISA pTau(181)
determination in CSF
human
Method Parameter Species/ Antigen
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