Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease will reach epidemic proportions within the next 20-30 years if left unchecked. Currently, there are no treatments that prevent or slow Alzheimer's disease but many are being developed. Parallel efforts to develop biomarkers to aid in disease diagnosis and prognosis, and assess disease risk are currently underway. Clinicopathological and biomarker studies have demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease pathology can be detected preclinically. Using biomarkers to identify affected individuals prior to the onset of clinical symptoms and associated synaptic/neuronal loss should enable novel clinical trial design and early mechanism-based therapeutic intervention. This article summarizes the most promising cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, highlights novel applications and current challenges, and provides a prediction on how the field may evolve in 5-10 years.