CSF biomarkers in neurodegenerative disease (14-3-3 and tau in CJD)
Core concept
- Two different jobs, and the biomarkers are not interchangeable
- Diagnose a specific proteinopathy - Alzheimer's amyloid/tau, prion
- Detect neuronal injury non-specifically - NfL, total tau, 14-3-3
- 14-3-3 and total tau are markers of RAPID NEURONAL DESTRUCTION, not of prion disease specifically
- Released from dying neurons
- Also raised in: acute stroke, encephalitis (esp. HSV), status epilepticus, hypoxic brain injury, CNS lymphoma, paraneoplastic and autoimmune encephalitis, rapidly progressive dementias of any cause
- -> a positive 14-3-3 in a slowly progressive dementia means very little
3 more sections, plus exam facts
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