2026-06-14T03:29:55Zhttps://repisalud.isciii.es/rest/oai/request
oai:repisalud.isciii.es:20.500.12105/199042025-04-08T12:46:05Zcom_20.500.12105_2052com_20.500.12105_2051col_20.500.12105_19609
Repisalud author Sánchez-Juan, Pascual author Valeriano-Lorenzo, Elizabeth author Ruiz-González, Alicia author Pastor, Ana Belén author Rodrigo Lara, Hector author López-González, Francisco author Zea-Sevilla, María Ascensión author Valentí, Meritxell author Frades, Belén author Ruiz, Paloma author Saiz, Laura author Burgueño-García, Iván author Calero, Miguel author Del Ser, Teodoro author Rábano, Alberto funder Fundación Reina Sofía funder Unión Europea. Comisión Europea. NextGenerationEU funder Instituto de Salud Carlos III funder Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España) funder Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España) 2024-07-02T11:03:14Z 2024-07-02T11:03:14Z 2024-05-03 Brain. 2024 May 3;147(5):1667-1679. 10.1093/brain/awae035 1460-2156 Brain: a journal of neurology 38634687 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/19904 Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a proxy of astrocyte reactivity, has been proposed as biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is limited information about the correlation between blood biomarkers and post-mortem neuropathology. In a single-centre prospective clinicopathological cohort of 139 dementia patients, for which the time-frame between GFAP level determination and neuropathological assessment was exceptionally short (on average 139 days), we analysed this biomarker, measured at three time points, in relation to proxies of disease progression such as cognitive decline and brain weight. Most importantly, we investigated the use of blood GFAP to detect the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, while accounting for potential influences of the most frequent brain co-pathologies. The main findings demonstrated an association between serum GFAP level and post-mortem tau pathology (β = 12.85; P < 0.001) that was independent of amyloid deposits (β = 13.23; P = 0.02). A mediation analysis provided additional support for the role of astrocytic activation as a link between amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed between pre-mortem serum GFAP and brain weight at post-mortem (r = -0.35; P < 0.001). This finding, together with evidence of a negative correlation with cognitive assessments (r = -0.27; P = 0.005), supports the role of GFAP as a biomarker for disease monitoring, even in the late phases of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, the diagnostic performance of GFAP in advanced dementia patients was explored, and its discriminative power (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve at baseline = 0.91) in differentiating neuropathologically-confirmed Alzheimer's disease dementias from non-Alzheimer's disease dementias was determined, despite the challenging scenario of advanced age and frequent co-pathologies in these patients. Independently of Alzheimer's disease, serum GFAP levels were shown to be associated with two other pathologies targeting the temporal lobes-hippocampal sclerosis (β = 3.64; P = 0.03) and argyrophilic grain disease (β = -6.11; P = 0.02). Finally, serum GFAP levels were revealed to be correlated with astrocyte reactivity, using the brain GFAP-immunostained area as a proxy (ρ = 0.21; P = 0.02). Our results contribute to increasing evidence suggesting a role for blood GFAP as an Alzheimer's disease biomarker, and the findings offer mechanistic insights into the relationship between blood GFAP and Alzheimer's disease neuropathology, highlighting its ties with tau burden. Moreover, the data highlighting an independent association between serum GFAP levels and other neuropathological lesions provide information for clinicians to consider when interpreting test results. The longitudinal design and correlation with post-mortem data reinforce the robustness of our findings. However, studies correlating blood biomarkers and neuropathological assessments are still scant, and further research is needed to replicate and validate these results in diverse populations. eng Astrocyte Alzheimer’s disease Blood biomarkers Neuropathology tau Serum GFAP levels correlate with astrocyte reactivity, post-mortem brain atrophy and neurofibrillary tangles research article 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 URL https://repisalud.isciii.es/bitstreams/ceceee22-b824-4b8b-af5d-e0caed4b55b2/download File MD5 c17dd3f7b8039e2119c1c817d3e60e4d 654195 application/pdf SerumGFAP_LevelsCorrelate_2024.pdf URL https://repisalud.isciii.es/bitstreams/c5e6a509-4bfd-46cc-a3f3-1266a7378a17/download File MD5 390b91d3e290c54f00c9badee2475a5f 333632 application/pdf Supplementary_SerumGFAP_LevelsCorrelate_2024.pdf URL https://repisalud.isciii.es/bitstreams/3e5a45ca-cf33-4fa5-8fb1-fd51685c1d02/download File MD5 5ef601b6ee4ddfa0532c5407f8b34a77 73200 text/plain SerumGFAP_LevelsCorrelate_2024.pdf.txt URL https://repisalud.isciii.es/bitstreams/1fe235bc-f190-4b0e-bba6-f91d51b83efe/download File MD5 39c728bcee7011def4b21c374b9c52ea 12511 text/plain Supplementary_SerumGFAP_LevelsCorrelate_2024.pdf.txt