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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Aging Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1488494

Using cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease: An Australian perspective

Provisionally accepted
Dhamidhu Eratne Dhamidhu Eratne 1,2,3*Steven Collins Steven Collins 2,4Peter J Nestor Peter J Nestor 5,6Dimity Pond Dimity Pond 7Dennis Velakoulis Dennis Velakoulis 1Mark William Yates Mark William Yates 8Colin Masters Colin Masters 2
  • 1 Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
  • 2 National Dementia Diagnostics Laboratory, The Florey Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
  • 4 Department of Medicine, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • 5 Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
  • 6 Mater Public Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia
  • 7 The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia
  • 8 Grampians Health, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are currently the only clinically validated biofluid diagnostic test for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) available in Australia. Testing of CSF biomarkers via lumbar puncture (LP), including quantification of amyloid-β peptide, total tau protein, and phosphorylated tau, can give insight into underlying pathophysiological changes and provide greater certainty in confirming or excluding the presence of Alzheimer's disease changes compared to standard clinical and radiological assessments.Despite CSF analysis being a safe and cost-effective diagnostic method, the use of CSF biomarkers in the evaluation of potential AD remains limited in Australian clinical practice due to a variety of factors, including regional access challenges, concerns over the perceived invasiveness of LP and a lack of confidence among clinicians in interpreting the results.The advent of disease-modifying therapies as a potential new treatment strategy to reduce the rate of progression in people with AD will drive the demand for early diagnosis of AD. This perspective argues for broader adoption of CSF biomarker testing by providing evidence-based, clinically informed expert guidance on when and why to consider CSF biomarker testing.

    Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Dementia, diagnosis, CSF biomarkers, Amyloid, tau

    Received: 30 Aug 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Eratne, Collins, Nestor, Pond, Velakoulis, Yates and Masters. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dhamidhu Eratne, Neuropsychiatry Centre, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.