Cerebrospinal fluid tau and Aβ42 as predictors of development of Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment

We studied CSF-tau and CSF-A beta 42 in 16 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MC[) who at follow-up investigations 6-27 months later had progressed to Alzheimer's disease (AD) with dementia. For comparison, we studied 15 age-matched healthy individuals. At baseline, 14/16 (88%) of MCI patients had high CSF-tau and/or low CSF-A beta 42 levels. These findings show that these CSF-markers are abnormal before the onset of clinical dementia and that they may help to identify MCI patients that will develop AD. This is especially important when drugs with potential effects on the progression of AD will reach the clinical phase. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.