Cerebrospinal fluid τ and β-amyloid(1-42) in dementia disorders

The reliability of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-τ and CSF-β-amyloid assays for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other dementing disorders such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) is reviewed. CSF assessment of the two proteins is useful in early diagnosis of AD and to differentiate it from FTD and DLB. Extremely high CSF-τ levels can discriminate CJD from AD.