Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease

The utmost predominant type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and people are affected globally. One of the reasons for AD progression is an accretion of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide as well as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Other neuropathological mechanisms also influence the disease progression. It is often considered that the lack of disease-adapting therapies and lack of an early, reliable diagnostic means impede the fight against this illness. Sometimes it takes several years to diagnose. These delays may cause treatment to be deferred and complicate the disease condition and is very important to identify the disease at early stages. Stating that a minimally invasive or noninvasive test can identify AD in its early stages before cognitive symptoms appear may be a boon and ideal for the therapeutic interventions decided by the physicians. Promising biomarkers for AD have been used and proteomic technologies have emerged as novel efficient components for ruling out AD. Numerous biomarkers with a high extrapolative value for AD that can be assessed in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), or one of either fluid have been considered prime biomarkers. In this chapter, the various biomarkers such as blood-based, CFS, and biological fluid-based as well as imaging are discussed.