Plasma levels of an N‐terminal tau fragment predict core AD and neurodegenerative biomarkers in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease: Findings from DIAN

Blood based biomarkers that predict cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology have the potential to accelerate AD therapeutic development and improve clinical care. Prior work suggests that plasma biomarkers of tau pathology (particularly post‐translational modifications of tau) may be highly useful in diagnosis and risk stratification for AD‐related neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Levels of tau species lacking truncation of the N‐terminal region, particularly plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of N‐terminal tau fragment 1 (NT1), have previously been shown to predict cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and tau pathology in preclinical and symptomatic late‐onset AD. Here we examined plasma NT1 as a possible predictor of cognitive, clinical, pathologic, and neurodegenerative trajectories in autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) using data from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Observational Study (DIAN‐Obs).