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A Biological Marker to Differentiate Alzheimer’s from Depression
It has been the hope of researchers and clinicians alike who work with Alzheimer patients to find a biological marker that can help them clinically differentiate mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease from a major depression. Many symptoms overlap which make assessments quite difficult at times. Key symptoms of major depression occur in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, such as depressed mood, apathy, social restraint, or loss of interests. A study published in the current American Journal of Psychiatry by Buerger, Zinkowski et al., studied the fact that increased CSF concentrations of tau protein phosphorylated at threonine 231 (p-tau231) have been suggested as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease. The authors set out to prove whether p-tau231 levels improve the differential diagnosis between geriatric major depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
Results They found in fact that “P-tau231 levels distinguished mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease from major depression with a specificity level of 85%, a sensitivity level of 92%, and a correct classification rate of 87%. When major depression was compared to very mild Alzheimer’s disease, 78% of the cases were correctly allocated.” They suggest that this is the first report on the use of CSF phosphorylated tau protein for the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and geriatric major depression.” There is hope on the horizon for early detection and this should encourage more research in this area.
From
Differentiation of Geriatric Major Depression From Alzheimer’s Disease With CSF Tau Protein Phosphorylated at Threonine 231
Am J Psychiatry 2003 160: 376-379
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