Plasma ptau217, NfL, GFAP diagnostic performance and biomarker profiles in Alzheimer disease, frontotemporal dementia, and psychiatric disorders, in a prospective unselected neuropsychiatry memory clinic

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INTRODUCTION Plasma biomarkers offer promise for improving diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and differentiating AD and other neurodegenerative disorders (ND) like frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from primary psychiatric disorders (PPD), particularly in younger patients. METHODS In this prospective study, we investigated plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (ptau217), neurofilament light chain (NfL), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in 341 unselected participants from a neuropsychiatry memory clinic, including AD (n=40), bvFTD (n=15), PPD (n=69), other ND, and controls. RESULTS Plasma ptau217 showed strong diagnostic performance for distinguishing AD from bvFTD (96% accuracy) and PPD (93% accuracy). NfL best distinguished all ND from PPD, while GFAP showed limited diagnostic utility. Biomarker profiles using predefined cut-offs and age-adjusted z-scores further clarified group differences. DISCUSSION Plasma ptau217 and NfL have strong diagnostic utility in real-world, diagnostically complex cohorts. These findings support implementation of scalable blood-based biomarkers to improve early and accurate diagnosis in memory clinic settings.