Alzheimer’s Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognitive performance in older adults

Alzheimer’s Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognitive performance in older adults | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Brief Communication Alzheimer’s Disease blood biomarkers measured through remote capillary sampling correlate with cognitive performance in older adults Anne Corbett, Millie Sander-Long, Nicholas Ashton, Hanna Huber, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7860104/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 May, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Blood biomarkers are rapidly becoming established in the diagnostic pathway for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), particularly p-tau217. However, there is a need for more scalable detection tools to reach individuals who are not in contact with specialist healthcare services. A recent study validated a capillary blood sampling technique for detection, quantification and diagnostic utility of p-tau217. This study examines the potential clinical utility of this technology. Correlation analysis shows robust associations between capillary p-tau217 and measures of cognition and function. A pre-specified (85%) p-tau217 specificity threshold also demonstrates good performance in identifying the 20% of patients with highest risk of AD pathology and delivers significant separation in cognition and function in patients above and below the identified p-tau217 threshold. Patient feedback indicates high acceptability and usability of the capillary test method, giving confidence in the feasibility of this technology for widescale adoption. The study demonstrates the potential utility of remote p-tau217 to improve triage of patients into clinical services and trials. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive neuroscience Health sciences/Biomarkers/Diagnostic markers Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. Anne Corbett declares consultancy work for Novartis, Addex, Suven, Sunovion, Janssen and Acadia pharmaceutical companies and grant funding from Novo Nordisk, ReMynd, Therini Bio pharmaceutical companies. Nicholas Ashton has received consultancy/speaker fees from Alamar Biosciences, Bioartic, Biogen, Eli-Lilly, Neurogen Biomarking, Roche, Spear Bio, Quanterix and Vigil Neurosciences. Clive Ballard has received consulting fees from Acadia pharmaceutical company, AARP, Addex pharmaceutical company, Eli Lily, Enterin pharmaceutical company, GWPharm, H.Lundbeck pharmaceutical company, Novartis pharmaceutical company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company, Orion Corp pharmaceutical company, Otsuka America Pharm Inc, Sunovion Pharm. Inc, Suven pharmaceutical company, Roche pharmaceutical company, Biogen pharmaceutical company, Synexus clinical research organization and tauX pharmaceutical company and research funding from Synexus clinical research organization, Roche pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company and Novartis pharmaceutical company. All other authors have no competing interests to declare. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 May, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7860104","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Brief Communication","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":529918981,"identity":"c86ab761-31f4-4acf-82b8-058b2f430a26","order_by":0,"name":"Anne Corbett","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABEElEQVRIie2RP2rDMBSHnwl4UuPVpkG9goyGLEW5SoQgU6EdPWQQGDyVZDW09AyZOksYlMWlF+hgyAUcCh3bPjdLKbbJ2EHfpD/vk35PAvB4/iEhEAYZCIC4m2a/90i/EsH0DqtVpwTa1D+njCuJjlqstifFFmcozFzssNrQ+UO+PxyfruX2KnctrAWw2owqfPbmpLbPK54UoSrBKWAvelSRZXyTolJR5gjHdAbYa3+whcEXOym3R20fv8jCRe8An8MKQyXA9rtbsH1tKAvJBILCDAerCLM7png8c2lZOxy4FQe5USQZan9/nzZNJmh8mTdtthZym1cHaD8EndbL/mQTAMzwd3U5+Csej8fjOYdvheJdLxwRhnAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Exeter","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anne","middleName":"","lastName":"Corbett","suffix":""},{"id":529918982,"identity":"965edab5-128a-4c34-b482-407a10b007b6","order_by":1,"name":"Millie Sander-Long","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Exeter","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Millie","middleName":"","lastName":"Sander-Long","suffix":""},{"id":529918983,"identity":"a46bc115-6781-4036-98bf-d2776b0fb93f","order_by":2,"name":"Nicholas Ashton","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Banner Sun Health Research Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nicholas","middleName":"","lastName":"Ashton","suffix":""},{"id":529918984,"identity":"f75f20ee-3bc8-48f8-926b-0caae30c0918","order_by":3,"name":"Hanna Huber","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Gothenberg","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hanna","middleName":"","lastName":"Huber","suffix":""},{"id":529918985,"identity":"7cb0f7c3-beed-4300-a03f-a9340ede78da","order_by":4,"name":"Henrik Zetterberg","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3930-4354","institution":"University of Gothenburg","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Henrik","middleName":"","lastName":"Zetterberg","suffix":""},{"id":529918986,"identity":"ec667c43-7f96-45cf-87f0-0fcdbc79ff29","order_by":5,"name":"Laia Montoliu-Gaya","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7684-6318","institution":"Gothenburg University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Laia","middleName":"","lastName":"Montoliu-Gaya","suffix":""},{"id":529918987,"identity":"3fbe032a-c854-4da7-ad2c-dc87fefd7683","order_by":6,"name":"Freya Bateman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Exeter","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Freya","middleName":"","lastName":"Bateman","suffix":""},{"id":529918988,"identity":"0a71e998-42fc-4930-99e5-626ad30d6cde","order_by":7,"name":"Clive Ballard","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0022-5632","institution":"University of Exeter Medical School","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Clive","middleName":"","lastName":"Ballard","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-14 15:14:29","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7860104/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7860104/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71448-2","type":"published","date":"2026-05-06T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108668281,"identity":"86322cf3-255e-4514-8b93-e5a639c9aa53","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-07 07:07:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":299648,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"CorbettManuscriptSubmission.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7860104/v1_covered_df6a5582-f5b8-4073-9efa-06e616de8a47.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nAnne Corbett declares consultancy work for Novartis, Addex, Suven, Sunovion, Janssen and Acadia pharmaceutical companies and grant funding from Novo Nordisk, ReMynd, Therini Bio pharmaceutical companies. 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