Annakaisa Haapasalo, PhD, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland, shares the findings of a study looking at the diagnostic and prognostic performance of glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) as a biomarker in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In the early stages of disease, symptoms that overlap with primary psychiatric disorders (PPD) hamper the diagnosis of FTD. With the aim of identifying a discriminative tool in FTD and PPD, the levels of GFAP were assessed in patients and healthy controls. The study showed that in both serum and whole blood samples, GFAP levels were elevated in the FTD cohort compared to patients with PPD or healthy controls. Furthermore, higher serum GFAP (sGFAP) levels were significantly associated with faster progression (cortical atrophy rates) and predicted shorter survival. Overall, these finding suggest the sGFAP may represent a beneficial marker for differential diagnosis and disease progression in FTD. This interview took place at the Harvard European Alumni Training Network (HEAT-Net) 2021 meeting.
