ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2021
Comparison of plasma neurofilament light and total tau as neurodegeneration markers: associations with cognitive and neuroimaging outcomes.
Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Plasma Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease Across the Continuum: A Systematic Review of SIMOA-Based Studies.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Potential protein blood-based biomarkers for cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Association between blood-based protein biomarkers and brain MRI in the Alzheimer's disease continuum: a systematic review.Journal of neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Blood Biomarkers of Alzheimer Disease and Rates of Global and Domain-Specific Cognitive Decline.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Age and Resilience in the Framingham Heart Study.Neurology open access · 2026Article
- Breakpoints in Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and cognition across the aging spectrum: The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- A positive association between phosphorylated Tau217 (pTau217) and neural correlations is prevented by human leukocyte antigen allele DRB1*13:01.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Midlife sensory and motor measures among best predictors in parsimonious models of long-term cognitive decline and incidence of cognitive impairment in aging adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Neurofilament light and glial fibrillary acidic protein do not reflect neuronal or glial damage during different intracranial radiotherapy regimes: a pilot study.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Cortical mean diffusivity detects early age-related changes and associates with cognition and plasma biomarkers.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Neurofilament light chain but not glial fibrillary acidic protein serum levels are elevated in Wolfram syndrome.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Distinct contributions of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms in young-onset dementia.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2025Article
- Combined use of plasma p-tau217, NfL, and GFAP predicts domain-specific cognitive decline in cognitively unimpaired and MCI individuals.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Prognostic value of plasma biomarkers in early Alzheimer's disease: a longitudinal clinical and neuroimaging study.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Observational
- Path integration impairments reveal early cognitive changes in subjective cognitive decline.Science advances · 2025Article
- Impact of cardiovascular risk factors on plasma biomarkers in prediction of Alzheimer's and cerebrovascular neuropathology.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2025Article
- Path integration impairments reveal early cognitive changes in Subjective Cognitive Decline.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Article
- AβJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Article
- Plasma NfL and GFAP for predicting VCI and related brain changes in community and clinical cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTotal tau protein (T-Tau) and neurofilament light chain (NfL) have emerged as candidate plasma biomarkers of neurodegeneration, but studies have not compared how these biomarkers cross-sectionally or longitudinally associate with cognitive and neuroimaging measures. We therefore compared plasma T-Tau and NfL as cross-sectional and longitudinal markers of (1) global and domain-specific cognitive decline and (2) neuroimaging markers of cortical thickness, hippocampal volume, white matter integrity, and white matter hyperintensity volume.
methodsWe included 995 participants without dementia who were enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging cohort. All had concurrent plasma NfL and T-tau, cognitive status, and neuroimaging data. Follow-up was repeated approximately every 15 months for a median of 6.2 years. Plasma NfL and T-tau were measured on the Simoa-HD1 Platform. Linear mixed effects models adjusted for age, sex, and education examined associations between baseline z-scored plasma NfL or T-tau and cognitive or neuroimaging outcomes. Analyses were replicated in Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) among 387 participants without dementia followed for a median of 3.0 years.
resultsAt baseline, plasma NfL was more strongly associated with all cognitive and neuroimaging outcomes. The combination of having both elevated NfL and T-tau at baseline, compared to elevated levels of either alone, was more strongly associated at cross-section with worse global cognition and memory, and with neuroimaging measures including temporal cortex thickness and increased number of infarcts. In longitudinal analyses, baseline plasma T-tau did not add to the prognostic value of baseline plasma NfL. Results using ADNI data were similar.
conclusionsOur results indicate plasma NfL had better utility as a prognostic marker of cognitive decline and neuroimaging changes. Plasma T-tau added cross-sectional value to NfL in specific contexts.
trial registrationNot applicable.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.