# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Alzheimer's disease research and treatments Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/alzheimer-s-disease-research-and-treatments/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Alzheimer's disease research and treatments research in the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 is dominated by quantitative Alzheimer's biomarkers, led by Amyloid PET, p-tau217, and the Aβ42/40 ratio. Tau PET and plasma assays surged significantly as non-invasive diagnostic tools, while general terms like tau accumulation and broad neuroinflammation saw relative declines, marking a decisive shift toward precise molecular staging.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Alzheimer's disease research and treatments |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 8,656 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Amyloid PET, p-tau217, Aβ42/40 ratio, Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, Mild cognitive impairment |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 94–405 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer disease | Michael T Heneka, Wiesje M van der Flier, Frank Jessen, Jeroen Hoozemanns, Dietmar Rudolf Thal, Delphine Boche, Frederic Brosseron, Charlotte Teunissen, Henrik Zetterberg, Andreas H Jacobs, Paul Edison, Alfredo Ramirez, Carlos Cruchaga, Jean-Charles Lambert, Agustin Ruiz Laza, Jose Vicente Sanchez-Mut, Andre Fischer, Sergio Castro-Gomez, Thor D Stein, Luca Kleineidam, Michael Wagner, Jonas J Neher, Colm Cunningham, Sim K Singhrao, Marco Prinz, Christopher K Glass, Johannes C M Schlachetzki, Oleg Butovsky, Kilian Kleemann, Philip L De Jaeger, Hannah Scheiblich, Guy C Brown, Gary Landreth, Miguel Moutinho, Jaime Grutzendler, Diego Gomez-Nicola, Róisín M McManus, Katrin Andreasson, Christina Ising, Deniz Karabag, Darren J Baker, Shane A Liddelow, Alexei Verkhratsky, Malu Tansey, Alon Monsonego, Ludwig Aigner, Guillaume Dorothée, Klaus-Armin Nave, Mikael Simons, Gabriela Constantin, Neta Rosenzweig, Alberto Pascual, Gabor C Petzold, Jonathan Kipnis, Carmen Venegas, Marco Colonna, Jochen Walter, Andrea J Tenner, M Kerry O'Banion, Joern R Steinert, Douglas L Feinstein, Magdalena Sastre, Kiran Bhaskar, Soyon Hong, Dorothy P Schafer, Todd Golde, Richard M Ransohoff, David Morgan, John Breitner, Renzo Mancuso, Sean-Patrick Riechers | Michael T. Heneka | University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg | Nature reviews. Immunology | 405 | 10.1038/s41577-024-01104-7 |
| 2 | Diagnostic Accuracy of a Plasma Phosphorylated Tau 217 Immunoassay for Alzheimer Disease Pathology | Nicholas J Ashton, Wagner S Brum, Guglielmo Di Molfetta, Andrea L Benedet, Burak Arslan, Erin Jonaitis, Rebecca E Langhough, Karly Cody, Rachael Wilson, Cynthia M Carlsson, Eugeen Vanmechelen, Laia Montoliu-Gaya, Juan Lantero-Rodriguez, Nesrine Rahmouni, Cecile Tissot, Jenna Stevenson, Stijn Servaes, Joseph Therriault, Tharick Pascoal, Alberto Lleó, Daniel Alcolea, Juan Fortea, Pedro Rosa-Neto, Sterling Johnson, Andreas Jeromin, Kaj Blennow, Henrik Zetterberg | Nicholas J. Ashton | University of Gothenburg, Sweden | JAMA Neurology | 351 | 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.5319 |
| 3 | Highly accurate blood test for Alzheimer’s disease is similar or superior to clinical cerebrospinal fluid tests | Nicolas R Barthélemy, Gemma Salvadó, Suzanne E Schindler, Yingxin He, Shorena Janelidze, Lyduine E Collij, Benjamin Saef, Rachel L Henson, Charles D Chen, Brian A Gordon, Yan Li, Renaud La Joie, Tammie L S Benzinger, John C Morris, Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren, Sebastian Palmqvist, Rik Ossenkoppele, Gil D Rabinovici, Erik Stomrud, Randall J Bateman, Oskar Hansson | Randall J. Bateman, Oskar Hansson | Washington University, United States | Nature Medicine | 252 | 10.1038/s41591-024-02869-z |
| 4 | APOE4 homozygosity represents a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease | Juan Fortea, Jordi Pegueroles, Daniel Alcolea, Olivia Belbin, Oriol Dols-Icardo, Lídia Vaqué-Alcázar, Laura Videla, Juan Domingo Gispert, Marc Suárez-Calvet, Sterling C Johnson, Reisa Sperling, Alexandre Bejanin, Alberto Lleó, Víctor Montal | Juan Fortea, Víctor Montal | Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Spain | Nature Medicine | 247 | 10.1038/s41591-024-02931-w |
| 5 | Blood Biomarkers to Detect Alzheimer Disease in Primary Care and Secondary Care | Sebastian Palmqvist, Pontus Tideman, Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren, Suzanne E Schindler, Ruben Smith, Rik Ossenkoppele, Susanna Calling, Tim West, Mark Monane, Philip B Verghese, Joel B Braunstein, Kaj Blennow, Shorena Janelidze, Erik Stomrud, Gemma Salvadó, Oskar Hansson | Sebastian Palmqvist | Lund University, Sweden | JAMA | 242 | 10.1001/jama.2024.13855 |
| 6 | Biomarker Changes during 20 Years Preceding Alzheimer’s Disease | Jianping Jia, Yuye Ning, Meilin Chen, Shuheng Wang, Hao Yang, Fangyu Li, Jiayi Ding, Yan Li, Bote Zhao, Jihui Lyu, Shanshan Yang, Xin Yan, Yue Wang, Wei Qin, Qi Wang, Ying Li, Jintao Zhang, Furu Liang, Zhengluan Liao, Shan Wang | Jianping Jia | Capital Medical University, China | New England Journal of Medicine | 224 | 10.1056/nejmoa2310168 |
| 7 | Integrated multimodal cell atlas of Alzheimer’s disease | Mariano I Gabitto, Kyle J Travaglini, Victoria M Rachleff, Eitan S Kaplan, Brian Long, Jeanelle Ariza, Yi Ding, Joseph T Mahoney, Nick Dee, Jeff Goldy, Erica J Melief, Anamika Agrawal, Omar Kana, Xingjian Zhen, Samuel T Barlow, Krissy Brouner, Jazmin Campos, John Campos, Ambrose J Carr, Tamara Casper, Rushil Chakrabarty, Michael Clark, Jonah Cool, Rachel Dalley, Martin Darvas, Song-Lin Ding, Tim Dolbeare, Tom Egdorf, Luke Esposito, Rebecca Ferrer, Lynn E Fleckenstein, Rohan Gala, Amanda Gary, Emily Gelfand, Jessica Gloe, Nathan Guilford, Junitta Guzman, Daniel Hirschstein, Windy Ho, Madison Hupp, Tim Jarsky, Nelson Johansen, Brian E Kalmbach, Lisa M Keene, Sarah Khawand, Mitchell D Kilgore, Amanda Kirkland, Michael Kunst, Brian R Lee, Mckaila Leytze, Christine L Mac Donald, Jocelin Malone, Zoe Maltzer, Naomi Martin, Rachel McCue, Delissa McMillen, Gonzalo Mena, Emma Meyerdierks, Kelly P Meyers, Tyler Mollenkopf, Mark Montine, Amber L Nolan, Julie K Nyhus, Paul A Olsen, Maiya Pacleb, Chelsea M Pagan, Nicholas Peña, Trangthanh Pham, Christina Alice Pom, Nadia Postupna, Christine Rimorin, Augustin Ruiz, Giuseppe A Saldi, Aimee M Schantz, Nadiya V Shapovalova, Staci A Sorensen, Brian Staats, Matt Sullivan, Susan M Sunkin, Carol Thompson, Michael Tieu, Jonathan T Ting, Amy Torkelson, Tracy Tran, Nasmil J Valera Cuevas, Sarah Walling-Bell, Ming-Qiang Wang, Jack Waters, Angela M Wilson, Ming Xiao, David Haynor, Nicole M Gatto, Suman Jayadev, Shoaib Mufti, Lydia Ng, Shubhabrata Mukherjee, Paul K Crane, Caitlin S Latimer, Boaz P Levi, Kimberly A Smith, Jennie L Close, Jeremy A Miller, Rebecca D Hodge, Eric B Larson, Thomas J Grabowski, Michael Hawrylycz, C Dirk Keene, Ed S Lein | Mariano I Gabitto, Kyle J Travaglini | Allen Institute for Brain Science, United States | Nature Neuroscience | 208 | 10.1038/s41593-024-01774-5 |
| 8 | Alzheimer's disease drug development pipeline: 2024 | Jeffrey Cummings, Yadi Zhou, Garam Lee, Kate Zhong, Jorge Fonseca, Feixiong Cheng | Jeffrey L. Cummings | University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States | Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions | 196 | 10.1002/trc2.12465 |
| 9 | Plasma proteomic profiles predict future dementia in healthy adults | Yu Guo, Jia You, Yi Zhang, Wei-Shi Liu, Yu-Yuan Huang, Ya-Ru Zhang, Wei Zhang, Qiang Dong, Jian-Feng Feng, Wei Cheng, Jin-Tai Yu | Jianfeng Feng, Wei Cheng, Jin‐Tai Yu | Fudan University, China | Nature Aging | 160 | 10.1038/s43587-023-00565-0 |
| 10 | Restoring hippocampal glucose metabolism rescues cognition across Alzheimer’s disease pathologies | Paras S Minhas, Jeffrey R Jones, Amira Latif-Hernandez, Yuki Sugiura, Aarooran S Durairaj, Qian Wang, Siddhita D Mhatre, Takeshi Uenaka, Joshua Crapser, Travis Conley, Hannah Ennerfelt, Yoo Jin Jung, Ling Liu, Praveena Prasad, Brenita C Jenkins, Yeonglong Albert Ay, Matthew Matrongolo, Ryan Goodman, Traci Newmeyer, Kelly Heard, Austin Kang, Edward N Wilson, Tao Yang, Erik M Ullian, Geidy E Serrano, Thomas G Beach, Marius Wernig, Joshua D Rabinowitz, Makoto Suematsu, Frank M Longo, Melanie R McReynolds, Fred H Gage, Katrin I Andreasson | Paras S. Minhas, Jeffrey R. Jones, Amira Latif‐Hernandez, Katrin I. Andreasson | Stanford University, United States | Science | 149 | 10.1126/science.abm6131 |
| 11 | Cellular and pathological functions of tau | Celeste Parra Bravo, Sarah A Naguib, Li Gan | Celeste Parra Bravo | Weill Cornell Medicine, United States | Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology | 140 | 10.1038/s41580-024-00753-9 |
| 12 | Associations of semaglutide with first‐time diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: Target trial emulation using nationwide real‐world data in the US | William Wang, QuangQiu Wang, Xin Qi, Mark Gurney, George Perry, Nora D Volkow, Pamela B Davis, David C Kaelber, Rong Xu | Rong Xu | Case Western Reserve University, United States | Alzheimer s & Dementia | 129 | 10.1002/alz.14313 |
| 13 | Head‐to‐head comparison of leading blood tests for Alzheimer's disease pathology | Suzanne E Schindler, Kellen K Petersen, Benjamin Saef, Duygu Tosun, Leslie M Shaw, Henrik Zetterberg, Jeffrey L Dage, Kyle Ferber, Gallen Triana-Baltzer, Lei Du-Cuny, Yan Li, Janaky Coomaraswamy, Michael Baratta, Yulia Mordashova, Ziad S Saad, David L Raunig, Nicholas J Ashton, Emily A Meyers, Carrie E Rubel, Erin G Rosenbaugh, Anthony W Bannon, William Z Potter, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium Plasma Aβ and Phosphorylated Tau as Predictors of Amyloid and Tau Positivity in Alzheimer's Disease Project Team | Suzanne E. Schindler | Washington University in St. Louis, United States | Alzheimer s & Dementia | 125 | 10.1002/alz.14315 |
| 14 | Microglia rescue neurons from aggregate-induced neuronal dysfunction and death through tunneling nanotubes | Hannah Scheiblich, Frederik Eikens, Lena Wischhof, Sabine Opitz, Kay Jüngling, Csaba Cserép, Susanne V Schmidt, Jessica Lambertz, Tracy Bellande, Balázs Pósfai, Charlotte Geck, Jasper Spitzer, Alexandru Odainic, Sergio Castro-Gomez, Stephanie Schwartz, Ibrahim Boussaad, Rejko Krüger, Enrico Glaab, Donato A Di Monte, Daniele Bano, Ádám Dénes, Eike Latz, Ronald Melki, Hans-Christian Pape, Michael T Heneka | Michael T. Heneka | University Hospital Bonn, Germany | Neuron | 113 | 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.06.029 |
| 15 | Revised criteria for the diagnosis and staging of Alzheimer’s disease | Clifford R Jack, Scott J Andrews, Thomas G Beach, Teresa Buracchio, Billy Dunn, Ana Graf, Oskar Hansson, Carole Ho, William Jagust, Eric McDade, Jose Luis Molinuevo, Ozioma C Okonkwo, Luca Pani, Michael S Rafii, Philip Scheltens, Eric Siemers, Heather M Snyder, Reisa Sperling, Charlotte E Teunissen, Maria C Carrillo | Clifford R. Jack | Mayo Clinic, United States | Nature Medicine | 112 | 10.1038/s41591-024-02988-7 |
| 16 | Multifaceted roles of APOE in Alzheimer disease | Rosemary J Jackson, Bradley T Hyman, Alberto Serrano-Pozo | Bradley T. Hyman, Alberto Serrano‐Pozo | Massachusetts General Hospital, United States | Nature Reviews Neurology | 110 | 10.1038/s41582-024-00988-2 |
| 17 | Cerebrospinal fluid proteomics in patients with Alzheimer’s disease reveals five molecular subtypes with distinct genetic risk profiles | Betty M Tijms, Ellen M Vromen, Olav Mjaavatten, Henne Holstege, Lianne M Reus, Sven van der Lee, Kirsten E J Wesenhagen, Luigi Lorenzini, Lisa Vermunt, Vikram Venkatraghavan, Niccoló Tesi, Jori Tomassen, Anouk den Braber, Julie Goossens, Eugeen Vanmechelen, Frederik Barkhof, Yolande A L Pijnenburg, Wiesje M van der Flier, Charlotte E Teunissen, Frode S Berven, Pieter Jelle Visser | Betty M. Tijms | Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands | Nature Aging | 109 | 10.1038/s43587-023-00550-7 |
| 18 | Effects of intensive lifestyle changes on the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: a randomized, controlled clinical trial | Dean Ornish, Catherine Madison, Miia Kivipelto, Colleen Kemp, Charles E McCulloch, Douglas Galasko, Jon Artz, Dorene Rentz, Jue Lin, Kim Norman, Anne Ornish, Sarah Tranter, Nancy DeLamarter, Noel Wingers, Carra Richling, Rima Kaddurah-Daouk, Rob Knight, Daniel McDonald, Lucas Patel, Eric Verdin, Rudolph E Tanzi, Steven E Arnold | Dean Ornish | Preventive Medicine Research Institute, United States | Alzheimer s Research & Therapy | 97 | 10.1186/s13195-024-01482-z |
| 19 | Biomarker-based staging of Alzheimer disease: rationale and clinical applications | Joseph Therriault, Suzanne E Schindler, Gemma Salvadó, Tharick A Pascoal, Andréa Lessa Benedet, Nicholas J Ashton, Thomas K Karikari, Liana Apostolova, Melissa E Murray, Inge Verberk, Jacob W Vogel, Renaud La Joie, Serge Gauthier, Charlotte Teunissen, Gil D Rabinovici, Henrik Zetterberg, Randall J Bateman, Philip Scheltens, Kaj Blennow, Reisa Sperling, Oskar Hansson, Clifford R Jack, Pedro Rosa-Neto | Joseph Therriault | Douglas Research Institute, Canada | Nature Reviews Neurology | 96 | 10.1038/s41582-024-00942-2 |
| 20 | Diagnostic performance of plasma pTau217, pTau181, Aβ1-42 and Aβ1-40 in the LUMIPULSE automated platform for the detection of Alzheimer disease | Javier Arranz, Nuole Zhu, Sara Rubio-Guerra, Íñigo Rodríguez-Baz, Rosa Ferrer, María Carmona-Iragui, Isabel Barroeta, Ignacio Illán-Gala, Miguel Santos-Santos, Juan Fortea, Alberto Lleó, Mireia Tondo, Daniel Alcolea | Mireia Tondo, Daniel Alcolea | Hospital de La Santa Creu I Sant Pau, Spain | Alzheimer s Research & Therapy | 94 | 10.1186/s13195-024-01513-9 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026 in Alzheimer's Disease Research?

The Class of 2026 in Alzheimer's disease research is heavily defined by high-precision fluid biomarkers and advanced neuroimaging modalities. Leading the field is Amyloid PET (present in 20% of top-cited publications), reflecting its role as the gold standard for clinical trial stratification and anti-amyloid therapy monitoring. Closely following are blood-based and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, notably p-tau217 (18%) and the Aβ42/40 ratio (18%), which are revolutionizing early diagnosis and mass screening for preclinical Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment (14%). In parallel, structural and molecular imaging via Tau PET (12%) provides vital insights into neuropathological staging and cognitive decline correlation. Mechanistic investigations remain anchored in neuroinflammation (14%), microglial activation (8%), and TREM2 variants, alongside preclinical evaluation in transgenic Alzheimer's disease mouse models (10%). Additional emerging themes include oxidative stress (8%) and mitochondrial dysfunction (6%), emphasizing a broader interest in metabolic dysregulation and secondary neurodegenerative cascades. Together, these dominant topics highlight a unified clinical push toward minimally invasive diagnostic panels, automated cutoff validation, and targeted disease-modifying interventions.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

Between the Class of 2025 and the Class of 2026, research priorities in Alzheimer's disease underwent a striking shift from generalized cellular mechanisms to quantitative, clinically actionable diagnostic tools. The most dramatic surging topics were highly specific plasma and imaging markers: Amyloid PET increased its representation from 14% to 20%, while Aβ42/40 ratio expanded from 10% to 18% (an 80% relative growth), and Tau PET doubled from 6% to 12%. Plasma p-tau217 also saw sustained growth (14% to 18%), reflecting rapid widespread clinical adoption of blood-based testing. Furthermore, preclinical validation in mouse models surged fivefold (from 2% to 10%), alongside new focus on oxidative stress (2% to 8%). Conversely, broader diagnostic and pathophysiological descriptors experienced noticeable relative declines. General tau accumulation mentions fell sharply (28% to 12%), neuroinflammation dropped from 18% to 14%, and mild cognitive impairment decreased from 16% to 14%. This transition demonstrates that the field is rapidly progressing beyond broad qualitative labels toward rigorous, standardized biomarker combinations capable of detecting Alzheimer's pathology prior to overt clinical dementia.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Alzheimer's disease research and treatments Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/alzheimer-s-disease-research-and-treatments/2026. Accessed 2026-07-24.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
```