June marks Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, bringing renewed focus to breakthrough diagnostics that are transforming how we detect and manage this devastating disease. Among the most promising advancements is the development of blood-based tests for Alzheimer’s biomarkers—particularly phosphorylated tau protein (p-Tau217), which can now be detected in blood at remarkably low concentrations.
This biomarker provides an accurate window into brain pathology without requiring invasive cerebrospinal fluid collection or expensive PET scans. The significance of this breakthrough, as detailed in Eric Topol’s Ground Truths article, cannot be overstated – it potentially allows for earlier detection, better monitoring of disease progression, and improved clinical trial design for new therapeutics.
However, the challenge has been reliably detecting these minuscule biomarker concentrations. Traditional immunoassays often lack the necessary sensitivity to consistently measure p-Tau217 at the attomole levels found in blood samples from pre-symptomatic individuals. This is precisely where Cavidi’s BOLD technology demonstrates its value. By amplifying immunoassay signals up to 100 times with minimal background noise, our Exazym® kits enable researchers to detect low-abundance biomarkers like p-Tau217 using standard laboratory equipment. This democratizes access to ultra-sensitive detection capabilities that were previously available only to labs with specialized, expensive equipment.
The ability to reliably detect neurological biomarkers in blood rather than cerebrospinal fluid represents a paradigm shift in Alzheimer’s diagnostics. It opens possibilities for earlier intervention, more frequent monitoring, and broader screening programs that could fundamentally change how we manage this disease.
As we commemorate Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, we’re proud that our BOLD technology is helping researchers advance the field of blood-based diagnostics. By making attomole-level detection accessible to more labs worldwide, we’re contributing to a future where Alzheimer’s can be detected earlier, monitored more effectively, and eventually prevented through timely interventions.
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You can also explore our research, in which we used BOLD technology to detect pTau(181) in human plasma with unprecedented sensitivity. Download our white paper: Application of BOLD Technology in Assessing Biomarkers Within Neuroscience.