Major efforts are under way to define reliable biomarkers of Alzheimer’ s disease (AD). With the advent of new drugs such as gamma-secretase inhibitors, early detection of elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who are destined to develop AD is becoming increasingly important. Highly significant increases of hyperphosporylated tau proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been recently reported in AD patients compared to controls by several independent groups, including ours. These findings support the notion that CSF phosphorylated tau proteins may be useful biomarkers in the early identification of AD in MCI subjects. |