Biomarkers and Extracellular Vesicles Across the Dementia Spectrum: From Discovery to Clinical Implementation

The landscape of dementia diagnostics is undergoing a paradigm shift with the emergence of liquid biopsy, blood-based biomarkers (BBMs), and blood-derived extracellular vesicles (bEVs). These innovative tools offer minimally invasive, scalable, and cost-effective alternatives to traditional diagnostic approaches such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, with profound implications for early detection, differential diagnosis, and disease monitoring.Recent advances have demonstrated remarkable diagnostic accuracy for plasma phosphorylated tau species, particularly p-tau217, which shows exceptional performance in identifying Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology across the disease continuum. When integrated into multi-biomarker panels, plasma p-tau217 achieves diagnostic precision approaching that of CSF and PET biomarkers. Concurrently, blood-derived EVs are emerging as promising candidates for differential diagnosis in the Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) spectrum, enabling the distinction between underlying proteinopathies (TDP-43, tau, FUS) through cargo-specific signatures.Beyond diagnostic applications, these biomarkers hold significant potential for predicting disease progression, stratifying patients in clinical trials, and monitoring therapeutic responses. However, critical challenges remain, including standardization of pre-analytical and analytical procedures, validation across diverse populations and disease stages, understanding the biological significance of EV subtypes, and defining optimal biomarker combinations for specific clinical contexts.This Research Topic welcomes original research, methodological innovations, systematic reviews, and perspectives addressing the development, validation, and clinical implementation of liquid biopsy, blood-based biomarkers, and extracellular vesicles in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, and related dementias. Topic editors: Alice Gualerzi, Gemma Lombardi Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78114/biomarkers-and-extracellular-vesicles-across-the-dementia-spectrum-from-discovery-to-clinical-implementation