Dates: April 18-22, 2026
Location: McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Organizer: American Academy of Neurology
Website: aanannualmeeting.com
Blood-based biomarkers have transformed neurological practice, enabling earlier diagnosis, more efficient clinical trials, and biomarker-guided treatment decisions. AAN 2026 features significant presentations on blood biomarker development across neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy[@karikari2022].
Phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 has emerged as a leading blood biomarker for AD:
- Diagnostic accuracy: High sensitivity and specificity for AD pathology
- Correlation with PET: Centiloid values and regional tau
- Longitudinal change: Rates of change over time
- Clinical implementation: Laboratory standardization efforts
- Clinical utility: Comparison with p-tau217
- Preclinical detection: Identifying cognitively normal at-risk individuals
- Treatment monitoring: Biomarker responses to therapy
- Early detection: Preclinical AD biomarker
- Regional specificity: Entorhinal cortex involvement
- Blood-based amyloid detection: Comparison with CSF and PET
- Preclinical screening: Clinical trial enrollment
- Analytical considerations: Assay standardization
- Disease progression: Rates of change
- Treatment response: Sensitivity to disease modification
- Prognosis: Correlation with clinical outcomes
- Cross-disease utility: ALS, FTD, Parkinson's[@brendel2023]
- Complementary to NfL: Additional specificity
- Astrogliosis: Marker of reactive astrocytes
- AD progression: Correlation with disease stage
- Complement with tau: AT(N) framework integration
- Soluble TREM2: Microglial activation state
- Genetic interactions: TREM2 variants
- Disease staging: Differentiation across stages
- RT-QuIC: Real-time quaking-induced conversion
- PMCA: Protein misfolding cyclic amplification
- Diagnostic accuracy: Sensitivity and specificity
- Clinical implementation: Laboratory development
- Disease progression: Subtype differentiation
- Dementia prediction: Cognitive decline markers
- Treatment response: Dopaminergic therapy effects
- Carrier identification: Testing strategies
- Prognosis: GBA-associated progression
- Risk stratification: Common variants
- Treatment response: Pharmacogenomics
- GFAP: Astroglial damage marker
- UCH-L1: Neuronal damage
- NFL: Axonal injury
- Combination approaches: Multi-marker panels
- Inflammatory markers: CRP, IL-6
- Coagulation markers: D-dimer, fibrinogen
- Relapse prediction: Risk stratification
- Treatment response: Disease-modifying therapies
- Progression markers: Chronic neuroinflammation
- B-cell counts: Ocrelizumab monitoring
- Lymphocyte subsets: Immunomodulatory effects
- IL-6: Post-seizure elevations
- CRP: Inflammatory contributions
- Heart rate variability: SUDEP risk stratification
- Autonomic dysfunction: Biomarkers
¶ Assay Standardization
- ISO certification: Laboratory standards
- Reference materials: Standardization efforts
- Quality control: Inter-laboratory comparability
- CLIA certification: Regulatory requirements
- Reimbursement: CPT coding
- Clinical guidelines: Appropriate use criteria
- Screening: Enriching for positive biomarkers
- Endpoints: Biomarker-based outcomes
- Monitoring: Treatment response
- AAN 2026 Annual Meeting
- Karikari et al., Blood biomarkers in neurodegenerative disease (2022)
- Brendel et al., NfL as neurodegeneration marker (2023)
- AAIC 2026 Blood Biomarkers