Glial fibrillary acidic protein in Alzheimer's disease: a narrative review.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search methodology or meta-analysis
PubMed 39554381 · doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcae396
What was done
Narrative review evaluating published evidence on glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)—an astrocyte intermediate filament protein released into biofluids during astrogliosis—as a non-invasive biomarker for early diagnosis, progression tracking, and multi-marker panel integration in Alzheimer's disease.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or statistical metrics. It describes qualitative evidence indicating that GFAP shows specificity and disease-correlation characteristics comparable to established clinical biomarkers such as amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides and phosphorylated tau, and suggests its utility within multi-biomarker panels.
Why it matters
Highlights reactive astrogliosis as an early pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease and frames fluid GFAP as a complementary marker to amyloid and tau pathology for clinical assessment and disease monitoring.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks systematic search criteria, quality appraisal of included studies, and quantitative meta-analytic pooling. No specific sensitivity, specificity, or cohort data are presented in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is an intermediate filament protein whose levels in blood elevate during reactive astrogliosis and brain inflammation.