Platelet phosphorylated TDP-43: an exploratory study for a peripheral surrogate biomarker development for Alzheimer's disease

Aim: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia create a noncurable disease population in world's societies. To develop a blood-based biomarker is important so that the remedial or disease-altering therapeutic intervention for AD patients would be available at the early stage. Materials & methods: TDP-43 levels were analyzed in postmortem brain tissue and platelets of AD and control subjects. Results: We observed an increased TDP-43 (<60%) in postmortem AD brain regions and similar trends were also observed in patient's platelets. Conclusion: Platelet TDP-43 could be used as a surrogate biomarker that is measurable, reproducible and sensitive for screening the patients with some early clinical signs of AD and can be used to monitor disease prognosis.