The hypotheses currently considered the most likely causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are amyloid beta peptide deposition in the cerebral cortex and hyperphosphorylation of the Tau protein, with the consequent formation of neurofibrillary tangles. In clinical practice, although not accurate, AD diagnosis is based on the exclusion of other diseases, behavioural assessments and complementary examinations, such as imaging and blood tests. Advances in the field of biotechnology have created exciting prospects for the early detection of AD via biomarker assessment, which is considered a safer and more efficient procedure. Molecules recognised as biomarkers can be expressed in some body fluids, including cerebrospinal fluid, saliva and blood. The presence of amyloid beta peptide and Tau can be confirmed in saliva, which is also an easily and non-invasively collectable material with an accessible cost. The objective was evaluate the concentrations of the t-Tau protein and Ab42 peptide in the saliva of elderly individuals with and without dementia of the AD type Method: The objective of this case-control study, involving a total of 120 individuals, was to analyse whether a correlation exists between variations in the concentrations of the t-Tau and Ab42 biomarkers in the saliva of patients with confirmed AD and individuals in the inclusion group but without AD . We found that t-Tau expression in AD patients is significantly lower than that in individuals without AD, whereas the salivary concentration of Ab42 is higher in patients with AD but not significantly different from that of the group without AD . Conclusion: Thus, we demonstrate the feasibility of using salivary biomarkers as predictive markers for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
KEY WORDS: Alzheimer’s disease; Biomarkers; Amyloid beta-peptide; Saliva; Tau protein; Dementia.
