A Skin-Based Test for Alzheimer's Disease? Small study show high Tau protein levels in buccal swabs

Patients with Alzheimer's disease had significantly higher levels of the disease-associated protein phosphorylated Tau (P-tau) in buccal mucosal swabs as compared with a normal control group, a small preliminary study showed. Swabs from 11 patients with Alzheimer's disease had median immunostaining for P-tau of 45% as compared with 18% for the healthy control patients. However, a comparative analysis of 10 cadaveric brains from patients with various neurodegenerative disorders failed to identify Tau protein in the brainstem of any specimens despite the presence of neurofibrillary tangles in the hippocampal area, reported Sami Saikaly, a medical student at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, and colleagues. The findings added to previous evidence of p-Tau accumulation in epidermal cells, and investigators vowed to continue looking for a possible Tau pathology pathway between the brain and periphery, which might have diagnostic potential in Alzheimer's disease. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAD/63599?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-03-06&eun=g721819d0r&pos=3