Affiliations: Department of Neurology and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Dr. Peng Lei, Department of Neurology and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Si-chuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China. E-mail: peng.lei@scu.edu.cn.
Note: [1] These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: The detection of plasma tau and its phosphorylation is technically challenging due to the relatively low sensitivity. However, in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies, it is hypothesized that tau in the biofluid may serve as a biomarker. In recent years, several ultrasensitive assays have been developed, which can successfully detect tau and its phosphorylation in various biofluids, and collectively demonstrated the prognostic and diagnostic value of plasma tau/phosphorylated tau. Here we have summarized the principle of four ultrasensitive assays newly developed suitable for plasma tau detection, namely single-molecule array, immunomagnetic reduction assay, enhanced immunoassay using multi-arrayed fiber optics, and meso scale discovery assay, with their advantages and applications. We have also compared these assays with traditional enzyme-linked-immunosorbent serologic assay, hoping to facilitate future tau-based biomarker discovery for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Keywords: Biomarker, enhanced immunoassay using multi-arrayed fiber optics, immunomagnetic reduction assay, meso scale discovery assay, ptau, single-molecule array tau
