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The development of blood tests to assist with diagnosing and monitoring neurodegenerative diseases has been the focus of much research lately (NEJM JW Neurol Jul 2020 and Brain 2020; 143:1220). Here, investigators analyzed the differential diagnostic and prognostic potential of plasma neurofilament light (NfL) and total tau (t-tau) levels in 265 individuals clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer disease (AD) or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) syndromes.
Plasma NfL was higher in those with clinically diagnosed AD or FTLD than in functionally intact controls, but neither plasma NfL nor t-tau could reliably discriminate between AD and FTLD clinical syndromes. Among the subset of participants with an etiologic diagnosis (determined by gene…