International Working Group for New Research Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

The figure comes from a report commissioned by proteomics firm Proteome Sciences, which, like a number of other protein biomarker firms including Quanterix, Rules-Based Medicine, and NextGen Sciences, has made AD a significant focus of its R&D and commercialization efforts.

The new guidelines mark the second publication in recent months to suggest that protein biomarkers be integrated into current definitions of Alzheimer's disease, though the new proposal explicitly calls for protein biomarkers to be used only in research settings.

The proposed definition incorporates findings from recent work on the use of protein biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid to develop diagnostic and prognostic assays for the disease. If adopted by the community, the new definition could have significant regulatory and drug-development implications.