World Alzheimer's Day

Top biomarkers commonly include amyloid measures (Aβ42/40), tau (total and phospho-tau epitopes), neurodegeneration (NfL), and astrocyte activation (GFAP), often combined into panels for cohort stratification and longitudinal monitoring.

Highly relevant targets include APP/BACE1/PSEN1 for amyloid processing, MAPT for tau pathology, APOE for genetic risk and lipid biology, and inflammatory mediators such as IL-6 and TNF for neuroinflammation pathways.

Validate using a defined positive control (phospho-peptide or stimulated lysate), a negative control (phosphatase-treated sample or knockout/knockdown), dilution series, and an orthogonal method (e.g., WB plus IF/IHC) to confirm specificity and expected molecular weight/localization.

Common sample types include serum and plasma for scalable biomarker studies, tissue homogenates for mechanistic validation, and cell culture supernatants/lysates for pathway perturbation experiments; always match the kit's validated matrix to your intended sample.

Start with one pathology axis (amyloid or tau), add one neuroinflammation marker (IL-6 or TNF) and one glial activation marker (GFAP), then include a neurodegeneration marker (NfL) if your model supports it—this balances mechanistic depth and translational relevance.