In comparing AD with HC, the sensitivity and specificity were 91.53% and 81.25% (AUC = 0.9166, 95% CI 0.8740–0.9592) for GABRD+-carrying pTau217 EVs and 78.23% and 76% (AUC = 0.8183, 95% CI 0.7546–0.8820) for GPR162+-carrying pTau217 EVs (Additional file 2: Table S4). Here, GPR162 is linked to Alzheimer disease.