Translational opportunities and barriers for blood-based biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease: from discovery to implementation

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia in the elderly population, imposed a substantial burden on families and society in China. Recent breakthroughs in anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) monoclonal antibody therapies have highlighted the urgent need for early and accurate diagnosis of AD. The advancement of highly sensitive and automated detection platforms for fluid biomarkers has positioned blood biomarkers (BBs) testing as promising tools for early detection, accurate diagnosis, progression monitoring, and therapeutic evaluation in AD. However, their clinical application still faces challenges, including standardization of detection and sample preprocessing, quality control, and confounding factors. Ongoing development of detection technologies and integration of artificial intelligence-driven analytical tools offer promising solutions to these challenges. In the future, efforts should focus on clinical translation pathways, multimodal integration, personalized medicine, and fostering global and national collaborations to accelerate the clinical application of BBs for AD.