Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, accounting for 60-70 % of cases worldwide. Early diagnosis remains challenging due to the limitations of current diagnostic tools, which are Show more
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, accounting for 60-70 % of cases worldwide. Early diagnosis remains challenging due to the limitations of current diagnostic tools, which are costly, invasive, and suffer from low patient compliance. Blood-based biomarkers, particularly plasma brain-derived exosomes (BDEs), have emerged as a promising alternative since they carry AD-related molecules and can be isolated non-invasively. In this study, an immunoassay was developed to isolate BDEs using magnetic particles functionalized with an anti-neuroligin-3 (NLGN3) antibody, while the AD-related marker β-secretase (BACE-1) was detected on the captured exosomes. This is the first report combining NLGN3 for for the isolation of BDEs with BACE-1 as a detection target, establishing a novel biomarker panel for AD diagnostics. The assay was evaluated across three readout platforms-optical, chemiluminescent, and electrochemical-with detection limits in the range of 10 Show less