Narrative review evaluates fluid biomarkers in CAA and their diagnostic challenges, indicating a need for improved specificity.
Key Points
This review investigates the limitations of current fluid biomarkers for diagnosing cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and their overlap with Alzheimer disease (AD).
Reviewed studies on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma biomarkers for sporadic CAA, AD, and healthy controls (HC).
Compared CSF profiles of beta-amyloid and phosphorylated tau levels among CAA, AD, and HC.
Analyzed variability in plasma biomarker results due to different methodologies across studies.
CAAs show decreased beta-amyloid 1–42 and a similar beta-amyloid 1–42/1–40 ratio as observed in AD, limiting specificity.
Beta-amyloid 1–40 is lower in CAA compared to both HC and AD.
Emerging biomarkers like phosphorylated tau and neurofilament light chain show promise, but their clinical utility remains unestablished.