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Groot C, Smith R, Collij LE, Mastenbroek SE, Stomrud E, Binette AP, Leuzy A, Palmqvist S, Mattsson-Carlgren N, Strandberg O, Cho H, Lyoo CH, Frisoni GB, Peretti DE, Garibotto V, La Joie R, Soleimani-Meigooni DN, Rabinovici G, Ossenkoppele R, Hansson O. Tau Positron Emission Tomography for Predicting Dementia in Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment. JAMA Neurol 2024:2819811. [PMID: 38857029 PMCID: PMC11165418 DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.1612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
Importance An accurate prognosis is especially pertinent in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), when individuals experience considerable uncertainty about future progression. Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of tau positron emission tomography (PET) to predict clinical progression from MCI to dementia. Design, Setting, and Participants This was a multicenter cohort study with external validation and a mean (SD) follow-up of 2.0 (1.1) years. Data were collected from centers in South Korea, Sweden, the US, and Switzerland from June 2014 to January 2024. Participant data were retrospectively collected and inclusion criteria were a baseline clinical diagnosis of MCI; longitudinal clinical follow-up; a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score greater than 22; and available tau PET, amyloid-β (Aβ) PET, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan less than 1 year from diagnosis. A total of 448 eligible individuals with MCI were included (331 in the discovery cohort and 117 in the validation cohort). None of these participants were excluded over the course of the study. Exposures Tau PET, Aβ PET, and MRI. Main Outcomes and Measures Positive results on tau PET (temporal meta-region of interest), Aβ PET (global; expressed in the standardized metric Centiloids), and MRI (Alzheimer disease [AD] signature region) was assessed using quantitative thresholds and visual reads. Clinical progression from MCI to all-cause dementia (regardless of suspected etiology) or to AD dementia (AD as suspected etiology) served as the primary outcomes. The primary analyses were receiver operating characteristics. Results In the discovery cohort, the mean (SD) age was 70.9 (8.5) years, 191 (58%) were male, the mean (SD) MMSE score was 27.1 (1.9), and 110 individuals with MCI (33%) converted to dementia (71 to AD dementia). Only the model with tau PET predicted all-cause dementia (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.75; 95% CI, 0.70-0.80) better than a base model including age, sex, education, and MMSE score (AUC, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.65-0.77; P = .02), while the models assessing the other neuroimaging markers did not improve prediction. In the validation cohort, tau PET replicated in predicting all-cause dementia. Compared to the base model (AUC, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.69-0.82), prediction of AD dementia in the discovery cohort was significantly improved by including tau PET (AUC, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.79-0.89; P < .001), tau PET visual read (AUC, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78-0.88; P = .001), and Aβ PET Centiloids (AUC, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78-0.88; P = .03). In the validation cohort, only the tau PET and the tau PET visual reads replicated in predicting AD dementia. Conclusions and Relevance In this study, tau-PET showed the best performance as a stand-alone marker to predict progression to dementia among individuals with MCI. This suggests that, for prognostic purposes in MCI, a tau PET scan may be the best currently available neuroimaging marker.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Groot
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Ruben Smith
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Lyduine E. Collij
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Brain Imaging, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Sophie E. Mastenbroek
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Brain Imaging, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Erik Stomrud
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Alexa Pichet Binette
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Antoine Leuzy
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Sebastian Palmqvist
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
- Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Olof Strandberg
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Hanna Cho
- Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Chul Hyoung Lyoo
- Department of Neurology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Giovanni B. Frisoni
- Memory Clinic, Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Geneva University and University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Aging, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Debora E. Peretti
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers, Geneva University Neurocenter and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Valentina Garibotto
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers, Geneva University Neurocenter and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Center for Biomedical Imaging, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Renaud La Joie
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco
| | - David N. Soleimani-Meigooni
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California
| | - Gil Rabinovici
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco
- Associate Editor, JAMA Neurology
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
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Mathoux G, Boccalini C, Peretti DE, Arnone A, Ribaldi F, Scheffler M, Frisoni GB, Garibotto V. A comparison of visual assessment and semi-quantification for the diagnostic and prognostic use of [ 18F]flortaucipir PET in a memory clinic cohort. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2024; 51:1639-1650. [PMID: 38182839 DOI: 10.1007/s00259-023-06583-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE [18F]Flortaucipir PET is a powerful diagnostic and prognostic tool for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Tau status definition is mainly based in the literature on semi-quantitative measures while in clinical settings visual assessment is usually preferred. We compared visual assessment with established semi-quantitative measures to classify subjects and predict the risk of cognitive decline in a memory clinic population. METHODS We included 245 individuals from the Geneva Memory Clinic who underwent [18F]flortaucipir PET. Amyloid status was available for 207 individuals and clinical follow-up for 135. All scans were blindly evaluated by three independent raters who visually classified the scans according to Braak stages. Standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) values were obtained from a global meta-ROI to define tau positivity, and the Simplified Temporo-Occipital Classification (STOC) was applied to obtain semi-quantitatively tau stages. The agreement between measures was tested using Cohen's kappa (k). ROC analysis and linear mixed-effects models were applied to test the diagnostic and prognostic values of tau status and stages obtained with the visual and semi-quantitative approaches. RESULTS We found good inter-rater reliability in the visual interpretation of tau Braak stages, independently from the rater's expertise (k>0.68, p<0.01). A good agreement was equally found between visual and SUVR-based classifications for tau status (k=0.67, p<0.01). All tau-assessment modalities significantly discriminated amyloid-positive MCI and demented subjects from others (AUC>0.80) and amyloid-positive from negative subjects (AUC>0.85). Linear mixed-effect models showed that tau-positive individuals presented a significantly faster cognitive decline than the tau-negative group (p<0.01), independently from the classification method. CONCLUSION Our results show that visual assessment is reliable for defining tau status and stages in a memory clinic population. The high inter-rater reliability, the substantial agreement, and the similar diagnostic and prognostic performance of visual rating and semi-quantitative methods demonstrate that [18F]flortaucipir PET can be robustly assessed visually in clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory Mathoux
- Diagnostic Department, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospitals, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Cecilia Boccalini
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Neurocenter, University of Geneva , Geneva, Switzerland
- Università Vita e Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy
| | - Debora E Peretti
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Neurocenter, University of Geneva , Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Annachiara Arnone
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Neurocenter, University of Geneva , Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Federica Ribaldi
- Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Memory Clinic, Geneva University and University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Aging (LANVIE), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Max Scheffler
- Division of Radiology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Giovanni B Frisoni
- Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Memory Clinic, Geneva University and University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Aging (LANVIE), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Valentina Garibotto
- Diagnostic Department, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospitals, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Neurocenter, University of Geneva , Geneva, Switzerland.
- CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Kam MK, Park JY, Yun GH, Sohn HY, Park JH, Choi J, Koh YH, Jo C. Rottlerin Enhances the Autophagic Degradation of Phosphorylated Tau in Neuronal Cells. Mol Neurobiol 2024:10.1007/s12035-024-04182-9. [PMID: 38671330 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-024-04182-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Intra-neuronal accumulation of hyper-phosphorylated tau as neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To prevent the aggregation of phosphorylated tau in neurons, decreasing the phosphorylated tau protein levels is important. Here, we examined the biological effects of rottlerin, a phytochemical compound extracted from the Kamala tree, Mallotus philippinensis, on phosphorylated tau levels. Notably, rottlerin decreased the levels of intracellular phosphorylated and total tau. A marked increase in the LC3-II, a hallmark of autophagy, was observed in these cells, indicating that rottlerin strongly induced autophagy. Interestingly, rottlerin induced the phosphorylation of Raptor at S792 through the activation of adenosine-monophosphate activated-protein kinase (AMPK), which likely inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), thus resulting in the activation of transcription factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of autophagy. In addition, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activity increased in the presence of rottlerin. The decrease of phosphorylated tau levels in the presence of rottlerin was ameliorated by the knockdown of TFEB and partially attenuated by the knockout of the Nrf2 gene. Taken together, rottlerin likely enhances the degradation of phosphorylated tau through autophagy activated by TFEB and Nrf2. Thus, our results suggest that a natural compound rottlerin could be used as a preventive and therapeutic drug for AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Kyoung Kam
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Jee-Yun Park
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Gwang Ho Yun
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Hee-Young Sohn
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Jung Hyun Park
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Jiyoung Choi
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Young Ho Koh
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea
| | - Chulman Jo
- Division of Brain Disease Research, Department for Chronic Disease Convergence Research, Korea National Institute of Health, 187 Osongsaengmyeong2-Ro, Osong-Eup, Cheongju-Si, 363-951, Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea.
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Katsumi Y, Howe IA, Eckbo R, Wong B, Quimby M, Hochberg D, McGinnis SM, Putcha D, Wolk DA, Touroutoglou A, Dickerson BC. Default mode network tau predicts future clinical decline in atypical early Alzheimer's disease. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.04.17.24305620. [PMID: 38699357 PMCID: PMC11065041 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.17.24305620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
Identifying individuals with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) at greater risk of steeper clinical decline would allow professionals and loved ones to make better-informed medical, support, and life planning decisions. Despite accumulating evidence on the clinical prognostic value of tau PET in typical late-onset amnestic AD, its utility in predicting clinical decline in individuals with atypical forms of AD remains unclear. In this study, we examined the relationship between baseline tau PET signal and the rate of subsequent clinical decline in a sample of 48 A+/T+/N+ patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to AD with atypical clinical phenotypes (Posterior Cortical Atrophy, logopenic variant Primary Progressive Aphasia, and amnestic syndrome with multi-domain impairment and age of onset < 65 years). All patients underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), tau (18F-Flortaucipir) PET, and amyloid (either 18F-Florbetaben or 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B) PET scans at baseline. Each patient's longitudinal clinical decline was assessed by calculating the annualized change in the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum-of-Boxes (CDR-SB) scores from baseline to follow-up (mean time interval = 14.55 ± 3.97 months). Our sample of early atypical AD patients showed an increase in CDR-SB by 1.18 ± 1.25 points per year: t(47) = 6.56, p < .001, d = 0.95. These AD patients showed prominent baseline tau burden in posterior cortical regions including the major nodes of the default mode network, including the angular gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, and lateral temporal cortex. Greater baseline tau in the broader default mode network predicted faster clinical decline. Tau in the default mode network was the strongest predictor of clinical decline, outperforming baseline clinical impairment, tau in other functional networks, and the magnitude of cortical atrophy and amyloid burden in the default mode network. Overall, these findings point to the contribution of baseline tau burden within the default mode network of the cerebral cortex to predicting the magnitude of clinical decline in a sample of atypical early AD patients one year later. This simple measure based on a tau PET scan could aid the development of a personalized prognostic, monitoring, and treatment plan tailored to each individual patient, which would help clinicians not only predict the natural evolution of the disease but also estimate the effect of disease-modifying therapies on slowing subsequent clinical decline given the patient's tau burden while still early in the disease course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuta Katsumi
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Inola A Howe
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Ryan Eckbo
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Bonnie Wong
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Megan Quimby
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Daisy Hochberg
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Scott M McGinnis
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Center for Brain Mind Medicine, Department of Neurology, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Deepti Putcha
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Center for Brain Mind Medicine, Department of Neurology, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - David A Wolk
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Alexandra Touroutoglou
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Bradford C Dickerson
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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Morderer D, Wren MC, Liu F, Kouri N, Maistrenko A, Khalil B, Pobitzer N, Salemi M, Phinney BS, Dickson DW, Murray ME, Rossoll W. Probe-dependent Proximity Profiling (ProPPr) Uncovers Similarities and Differences in Phospho-Tau-Associated Proteomes Between Tauopathies. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.25.585597. [PMID: 38585836 PMCID: PMC10996607 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.25.585597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Tauopathies represent a diverse group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the abnormal aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein tau. Despite extensive research, the precise mechanisms underlying the complexity of different types of tau pathology remain incompletely understood. Here we describe an approach for proteomic profiling of aggregate-associated proteomes on slides with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue that utilizes proximity labelling upon high preservation of aggregate morphology, which permits the profiling of pathological aggregates regardless of their size. To comprehensively investigate the common and unique protein interactors associated with the variety of tau lesions present across different human tauopathies, Alzheimer's disease (AD), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), Pick's disease (PiD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), were selected to represent the major tauopathy diseases. Implementation of our widely applicable Probe-dependent Proximity Profiling (ProPPr) strategy, using the AT8 antibody, permitted identification and quantification of proteins associated with phospho-tau lesions in well-characterized human post-mortem tissue. The analysis revealed both common and disease-specific proteins associated with phospho-tau aggregates, highlighting potential targets for therapeutic intervention and biomarker development. Candidate validation through high-resolution co-immunofluorescence of distinct aggregates across disease and control cases, confirmed the association of retromer complex protein VPS35 with phospho-tau lesions across the studied tauopathies. Furthermore, we discovered disease-specific associations of proteins including ferritin light chain (FTL) and the neuropeptide precursor VGF within distinct pathological lesions. Notably, examination of FTL-positive microglia in CBD astrocytic plaques indicate a potential role for microglial involvement in the pathogenesis of these tau lesions. Our findings provide valuable insights into the proteomic landscape of tauopathies, shedding light on the molecular mechanisms underlying tau pathology. This first comprehensive characterization of tau-associated proteomes across different tauopathies enhances our understanding of disease heterogeneity and provides a resource for future functional investigation, as well as development of targeted therapies and diagnostic biomarkers.
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Tsai HH, Liu CJ, Lee BC, Chen YF, Yen RF, Jeng JS, Tsai LK. Cerebral tau pathology in cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae086. [PMID: 38638152 PMCID: PMC11024817 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Tau, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, is poorly characterized in cerebral amyloid angiopathy. We aimed to assess the clinico-radiological correlations between tau positron emission tomography scans and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. We assessed cerebral amyloid and hyperphosphorylated tau in patients with probable cerebral amyloid angiopathy (n = 31) and hypertensive small vessel disease (n = 27) using 11C-Pittsburgh compound B and 18F-T807 positron emission tomography. Multivariable regression models were employed to assess radio-clinical features related to cerebral tau pathology in cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy exhibited a higher cerebral tau burden in the inferior temporal lobe [1.25 (1.17-1.42) versus 1.08 (1.05-1.22), P < 0.001] and all Braak stage regions of interest (P < 0.05) than hypertensive small vessel disease, although the differences were attenuated after age adjustment. Cerebral tau pathology was significantly associated with cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related vascular markers, including cortical superficial siderosis (β = 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.04-0.21) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy score (β = 0.12, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.21) after adjustment for age, ApoE4 status and whole cortex amyloid load. Tau pathology correlated significantly with cognitive score (Spearman's ρ=-0.56, P = 0.001) and hippocampal volume (-0.49, P = 0.007), even after adjustment. In conclusion, tau pathology is more frequent in sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy than in hypertensive small vessel disease. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related vascular pathologies, especially cortical superficial siderosis, are potential markers of cerebral tau pathology suggestive of concomitant Alzheimer's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsin-Hsi Tsai
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Ju Liu
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Bo-Ching Lee
- Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Ya-Fang Chen
- Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Ruoh-Fang Yen
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Jiann-Shing Jeng
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
| | - Li-Kai Tsai
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100225, Taiwan
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St-Onge F, Chapleau M, Breitner JCS, Villeneuve S, Pichet Binette A. Tau accumulation and its spatial progression across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae031. [PMID: 38410618 PMCID: PMC10896475 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The accumulation of tau abnormality in sporadic Alzheimer's disease is believed typically to follow neuropathologically defined Braak staging. Recent in-vivo PET evidence challenges this belief, however, as accumulation patterns for tau appear heterogeneous among individuals with varying clinical expressions of Alzheimer's disease. We, therefore, sought a better understanding of the spatial distribution of tau in the preclinical and clinical phases of sporadic Alzheimer's disease and its association with cognitive decline. Longitudinal tau-PET data (1370 scans) from 832 participants (463 cognitively unimpaired, 277 with mild cognitive impairment and 92 with Alzheimer's disease dementia) were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Among these, we defined thresholds of abnormal tau deposition in 70 brain regions from the Desikan atlas, and for each group of regions characteristic of Braak staging. We summed each scan's number of regions with abnormal tau deposition to form a spatial extent index. We then examined patterns of tau pathology cross-sectionally and longitudinally and assessed their heterogeneity. Finally, we compared our spatial extent index of tau uptake with a temporal meta-region of interest-a commonly used proxy of tau burden-assessing their association with cognitive scores and clinical progression. More than 80% of amyloid-beta positive participants across diagnostic groups followed typical Braak staging, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Within each Braak stage, however, the pattern of abnormality demonstrated significant heterogeneity such that the overlap of abnormal regions across participants averaged less than 50%, particularly in persons with mild cognitive impairment. Accumulation of tau progressed more rapidly among cognitively unimpaired and participants with mild cognitive impairment (1.2 newly abnormal regions per year) compared to participants with Alzheimer's disease dementia (less than 1 newly abnormal region per year). Comparing the association of tau pathology and cognitive performance our spatial extent index was superior to the temporal meta-region of interest for identifying associations with memory in cognitively unimpaired individuals and explained more variance for measures of executive function in patients with mild cognitive impairments and Alzheimer's disease dementia. Thus, while participants broadly followed Braak stages, significant individual regional heterogeneity of tau binding was observed at each clinical stage. Progression of the spatial extent of tau pathology appears to be fastest in cognitively unimpaired and persons with mild cognitive impairment. Exploring the spatial distribution of tau deposits throughout the entire brain may uncover further pathological variations and their correlation with cognitive impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric St-Onge
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Marianne Chapleau
- Faculty of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - John C S Breitner
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2, Canada
| | - Sylvia Villeneuve
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Alexa Pichet Binette
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö 205 02, Sweden
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Xiong X, He H, Ye Q, Qian S, Zhou S, Feng F, Fang EF, Xie C. Alzheimer's disease diagnostic accuracy by fluid and neuroimaging ATN framework. CNS Neurosci Ther 2024; 30:e14357. [PMID: 37438991 PMCID: PMC10848089 DOI: 10.1111/cns.14357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2023] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The ATN's different modalities (fluids and neuroimaging) for each of the Aβ (A), tau (T), and neurodegeneration (N) elements are used for the biological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aim to identify which ATN category achieves the highest potential for diagnosis and predictive accuracy of longitudinal cognitive decline. METHODS Based on the availability of plasma ATN biomarkers (plasma-derived Aβ42/40 , p-tau181, NFL, respectively), CSF ATN biomarkers (CSF-derived Aβ42 /Aβ40 , p-tau181, NFL), and neuroimaging ATN biomarkers (18F-florbetapir (FBP) amyloid-PET, 18F-flortaucipir (FTP) tau-PET, and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET), a total of 2340 participants were selected from ADNI. RESULTS Our data analysis indicates that the area under curves (AUCs) of CSF-A, neuroimaging-T, and neuroimaging-N were ranked the top three ATN candidates for accurate diagnosis of AD. Moreover, neuroimaging ATN biomarkers display the best predictive ability for longitudinal cognitive decline among the three categories. To note, neuroimaging-T correlates well with cognitive performances in a negative correlation manner. Meanwhile, participants in the "N" element positive group, especially the CSF-N positive group, experience the fastest cognitive decline compared with other groups defined by ATN biomarkers. In addition, the voxel-wise analysis showed that CSF-A related to tau accumulation and FDG-PET indexes more strongly in subjects with MCI stage. According to our analysis of the data, the best three ATN candidates for a precise diagnosis of AD are CSF-A, neuroimaging-T, and neuroimaging-N. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, our findings suggest that plasma, CSF, and neuroimaging biomarkers differ considerably within the ATN framework; the most accurate target biomarkers for diagnosing AD were the CSF-A, neuroimaging-T, and neuroimaging-N within each ATN modality. Moreover, neuroimaging-T and CSF-N both show excellent ability in the prediction of cognitive decline in two different dimensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Xiong
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Haijun He
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Qianqian Ye
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Shuangjie Qian
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Shuoting Zhou
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Feifei Feng
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
| | - Evandro F. Fang
- Department of Clinical Molecular BiologyAkershus University Hospital, University of OsloLørenskogNorway
- The Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing (NO‐Age)OsloNorway
| | - Chenglong Xie
- Department of NeurologyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
- Key Laboratory Of Alzheimer's Disease Of Zhejiang ProvinceWenzhouChina
- Institute of AgingWenzhou Medical UniversityWenzhouChina
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Treatment and Life Support for Critical Diseases of Zhejiang ProvinceWenzhouChina
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9
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Aguero C, Dhaynaut M, Amaral AC, Moon SH, Neelamegam R, Scapellato M, Carazo-Casas C, Kumar S, El Fakhri G, Johnson K, Frosch MP, Normandin MD, Gómez-Isla T. Head-to-head comparison of [ 18F]-Flortaucipir, [ 18F]-MK-6240 and [ 18F]-PI-2620 postmortem binding across the spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases. Acta Neuropathol 2024; 147:25. [PMID: 38280071 PMCID: PMC10822013 DOI: 10.1007/s00401-023-02672-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/29/2024]
Abstract
We and others have shown that [18F]-Flortaucipir, the most validated tau PET tracer thus far, binds with strong affinity to tau aggregates in Alzheimer's (AD) but has relatively low affinity for tau aggregates in non-AD tauopathies and exhibits off-target binding to neuromelanin- and melanin-containing cells, and to hemorrhages. Several second-generation tau tracers have been subsequently developed. [18F]-MK-6240 and [18F]-PI-2620 are the two that have garnered most attention. Our recent data indicated that the binding pattern of [18F]-MK-6240 closely parallels that of [18F]-Flortaucipir. The present study aimed at the direct comparison of the autoradiographic binding properties and off-target profile of [18F]-Flortaucipir, [18F]-MK-6240 and [18F]-PI-2620 in human tissue specimens, and their potential binding to monoamine oxidases (MAO). Phosphor-screen and high resolution autoradiographic patterns of the three tracers were studied in the same postmortem tissue material from AD and non-AD tauopathies, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, synucleopathies, transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43)-frontotemporal lobe degeneration and controls. Our results show that the three tracers show nearly identical autoradiographic binding profiles. They all strongly bind to neurofibrillary tangles in AD but do not seem to bind to a significant extent to tau aggregates in non-AD tauopathies pointing to their limited utility for the in vivo detection of non-AD tau lesions. None of them binds to lesions containing β-amyloid, α-synuclein or TDP-43 but they all show strong off-target binding to neuromelanin and melanin-containing cells, as well as weaker binding to areas of hemorrhage. The autoradiographic binding signals of the three tracers are only weakly displaced by competing concentrations of selective MAO-B inhibitor deprenyl but not by MAO-A inhibitor clorgyline suggesting that MAO enzymes do not appear to be a significant binding target of any of them. These findings provide relevant insights for the correct interpretation of the in vivo behavior of these three tau PET tracers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinthya Aguero
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Maeva Dhaynaut
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ana C Amaral
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - S-H Moon
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ramesh Neelamegam
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Margaret Scapellato
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Carlos Carazo-Casas
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Sunny Kumar
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Georges El Fakhri
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Keith Johnson
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Matthew P Frosch
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marc D Normandin
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Teresa Gómez-Isla
- MassGeneral Institute for NeuroDegenerative Disease, Charlestown, MA, USA.
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, WACC Suite 715, 15th Parkman St., Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
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10
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Franzmeier N, Dehsarvi A, Steward A, Biel D, Dewenter A, Roemer SN, Wagner F, Groß M, Brendel M, Moscoso A, Arunachalam P, Blennow K, Zetterberg H, Ewers M, Schöll M. Elevated CSF GAP-43 is associated with accelerated tau accumulation and spread in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Commun 2024; 15:202. [PMID: 38172114 PMCID: PMC10764818 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44374-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-beta (Aβ) triggers the trans-synaptic spread of tau pathology, and aberrant synaptic activity has been shown to promote tau spreading. Aβ induces aberrant synaptic activity, manifesting in increases in the presynaptic growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43), which is closely involved in synaptic activity and plasticity. We therefore tested whether Aβ-related GAP-43 increases, as a marker of synaptic changes, drive tau spreading in 93 patients across the aging and Alzheimer's spectrum with available CSF GAP-43, amyloid-PET and longitudinal tau-PET assessments. We found that (1) higher GAP-43 was associated with faster Aβ-related tau accumulation, specifically in brain regions connected closest to subject-specific tau epicenters and (2) that higher GAP-43 strengthened the association between Aβ and connectivity-associated tau spread. This suggests that GAP-43-related synaptic changes are linked to faster Aβ-related tau spread across connected regions and that synapses could be key targets for preventing tau spreading in Alzheimer's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolai Franzmeier
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany.
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Amir Dehsarvi
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna Steward
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Davina Biel
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna Dewenter
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Sebastian Niclas Roemer
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Fabian Wagner
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Mattes Groß
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Matthias Brendel
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Alexis Moscoso
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Prithvi Arunachalam
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Kaj Blennow
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
- Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
| | - Henrik Zetterberg
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
- Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, London, UK
- Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
- Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Michael Ewers
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany
| | - Michael Schöll
- University of Gothenburg, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Mölndal and Gothenburg, Sweden
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Dementia Research Centre, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
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11
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Simon SS, Varangis E, Lee S, Gu Y, Gazes Y, Razlighi QR, Habeck C, Stern Y. In vivo tau is associated with change in memory and processing speed, but not reasoning, in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Neurobiol Aging 2024; 133:28-38. [PMID: 38376885 PMCID: PMC10879688 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
The relationship between tau deposition and cognitive decline in cognitively healthy older adults is still unclear. The tau PET tracer 18F-MK-6240 has shown favorable imaging characteristics to identify early tau deposition in aging. We evaluated the relationship between in vivo tau levels (18F-MK-6240) and retrospective cognitive change over 5 years in episodic memory, processing speed, and reasoning. For tau quantification, a set of regions of interest (ROIs) was selected a priori based on previous literature: (1) total-ROI comprising selected areas, (2) medial temporal lobe-ROI, and (3) lateral temporal lobe-ROI and cingulate/parietal lobe-ROI. Higher tau burden in most ROIs was associated with a steeper decline in memory and speed. There were no associations between tau and reasoning change. The novelty of this finding is that tau burden may affect not only episodic memory, a well-established finding but also processing speed. Our finding reinforces the notion that early tau deposition in areas related to Alzheimer's disease is associated with cognitive decline in cognitively unimpaired individuals, even in a sample with low amyloid-β pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Sanz Simon
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | - Eleanna Varangis
- School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Concussion Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Seonjoo Lee
- Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yian Gu
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Joseph P. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yunglin Gazes
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Christian Habeck
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yaakov Stern
- Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
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12
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Veitch DP, Weiner MW, Miller M, Aisen PS, Ashford MA, Beckett LA, Green RC, Harvey D, Jack CR, Jagust W, Landau SM, Morris JC, Nho KT, Nosheny R, Okonkwo O, Perrin RJ, Petersen RC, Rivera Mindt M, Saykin A, Shaw LM, Toga AW, Tosun D. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative in the era of Alzheimer's disease treatment: A review of ADNI studies from 2021 to 2022. Alzheimers Dement 2024; 20:652-694. [PMID: 37698424 PMCID: PMC10841343 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023]
Abstract
The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) aims to improve Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials. Since 2006, ADNI has shared clinical, neuroimaging, and cognitive data, and biofluid samples. We used conventional search methods to identify 1459 publications from 2021 to 2022 using ADNI data/samples and reviewed 291 impactful studies. This review details how ADNI studies improved disease progression understanding and clinical trial efficiency. Advances in subject selection, detection of treatment effects, harmonization, and modeling improved clinical trials and plasma biomarkers like phosphorylated tau showed promise for clinical use. Biomarkers of amyloid beta, tau, neurodegeneration, inflammation, and others were prognostic with individualized prediction algorithms available online. Studies supported the amyloid cascade, emphasized the importance of neuroinflammation, and detailed widespread heterogeneity in disease, linked to genetic and vascular risk, co-pathologies, sex, and resilience. Biological subtypes were consistently observed. Generalizability of ADNI results is limited by lack of cohort diversity, an issue ADNI-4 aims to address by enrolling a diverse cohort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dallas P. Veitch
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterNorthern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE)San FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterCenter for Imaging of Neurodegenerative DiseasesSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Michael W. Weiner
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterCenter for Imaging of Neurodegenerative DiseasesSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical ImagingUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of MedicineUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of NeurologyUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Melanie Miller
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterNorthern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE)San FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterCenter for Imaging of Neurodegenerative DiseasesSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Paul S. Aisen
- Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research InstituteUniversity of Southern CaliforniaSan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Miriam A. Ashford
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterNorthern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE)San FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Laurel A. Beckett
- Division of BiostatisticsDepartment of Public Health SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaDavisCaliforniaUSA
| | - Robert C. Green
- Division of GeneticsDepartment of MedicineBrigham and Women's HospitalBroad Institute Ariadne Labs and Harvard Medical SchoolBostonMassachusettsUSA
| | - Danielle Harvey
- Division of BiostatisticsDepartment of Public Health SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaDavisCaliforniaUSA
| | | | - William Jagust
- Helen Wills Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of California BerkeleyBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Susan M. Landau
- Helen Wills Neuroscience InstituteUniversity of California BerkeleyBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - John C. Morris
- Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
- Department of NeurologyWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
- Department of Pathology and ImmunologyWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
| | - Kwangsik T. Nho
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterIndiana University School of MedicineIndianapolisIndianaUSA
- Center for Computational Biology and BioinformaticsIndiana University School of MedicineIndianapolisIndianaUSA
| | - Rachel Nosheny
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterCenter for Imaging of Neurodegenerative DiseasesSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Ozioma Okonkwo
- Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and Department of MedicineUniversity of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public HealthMadisonWisconsinUSA
| | - Richard J. Perrin
- Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
- Department of NeurologyWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
- Department of Pathology and ImmunologyWashington University School of MedicineSaint LouisMissouriUSA
| | | | - Monica Rivera Mindt
- Department of PsychologyLatin American and Latino Studies InstituteAfrican and African American StudiesFordham UniversityNew YorkNew YorkUSA
- Department of NeurologyIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Andrew Saykin
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterIndiana University School of MedicineIndianapolisIndianaUSA
- Department of Medical and Molecular GeneticsIndiana University School of MedicineIndianapolisIndianaUSA
| | - Leslie M. Shaw
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the PENN Alzheimer's Disease Research CenterCenter for Neurodegenerative ResearchPerelman School of MedicineUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Arthur W. Toga
- Laboratory of Neuro ImagingInstitute of Neuroimaging and InformaticsKeck School of Medicine of University of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCaliforniaUSA
| | - Duygu Tosun
- Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterCenter for Imaging of Neurodegenerative DiseasesSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical ImagingUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoCaliforniaUSA
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13
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Wang X, Sundermann EE, Buckley RF, Banks SJ. Sex differences in the association between tau PET and cognitive performance in a non-Hispanic White cohort with preclinical AD. Alzheimers Dement 2024; 20:25-33. [PMID: 37641484 PMCID: PMC10916995 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION We investigated how the associations between tau and cognitive measures differ by sex in the preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) stage. METHODS A total of 343 cognitively unimpaired, amyloid-positive individuals (205 women, 138 men) who self-identified as non-Hispanic White from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) Study were included. We assessed sex-stratified associations between 18 F-flortaucipir positron emission tomography (PET) standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) in the meta-temporal region and Preclinical Alzheimer's Cognitive Composite (PACC) and Computerized Cognitive Composite (C3) components. RESULTS We observed that higher tau level was significantly associated with worse cognitive performance only in women: PACC and its components except for Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and C3 components: First Letter Name Recall (FNLT) and One-Card Learning Reaction Time (OCL RT). These associations except for FNLT were apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 independent. DISCUSSION Women show stronger associations between tau PET and cognitive outcomes in preclinical AD. These findings have important implications for sex-specific tau-targeted preventive AD clinical trials. HIGHLIGHTS The tau positron emission tomography (PET) signal in the meta-temporal region was associated with poor cognitive performance in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). After sex stratification, the associations between regional tau PET and cognitive outcomes were observed only in women. The associations between tau PET and some cognitive outcomes were independent of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Department of NeurosciencesUniversity of CaliforniaSan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
| | | | - Rachel F. Buckley
- Department of NeurologyMassachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical SchoolBostonMassachusettsUSA
| | - Sarah J. Banks
- Department of NeurosciencesUniversity of CaliforniaSan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
- Department of PsychiatryUniversity of CaliforniaSan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
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14
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Bhattarai P, Taha A, Soni B, Thakuri DS, Ritter E, Chand GB. Predicting cognitive dysfunction and regional hubs using Braak staging amyloid-beta biomarkers and machine learning. Brain Inform 2023; 10:33. [PMID: 38043122 PMCID: PMC10694120 DOI: 10.1186/s40708-023-00213-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional stage between normal aging and early Alzheimer's disease (AD). The presence of extracellular amyloid-beta (Aβ) in Braak regions suggests a connection with cognitive dysfunction in MCI/AD. Investigating the multivariate predictive relationships between regional Aβ biomarkers and cognitive function can aid in the early detection and prevention of AD. We introduced machine learning approaches to estimate cognitive dysfunction from regional Aβ biomarkers and identify the Aβ-related dominant brain regions involved with cognitive impairment. We employed Aβ biomarkers and cognitive measurements from the same individuals to train support vector regression (SVR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models and predict cognitive performance solely based on Aβ biomarkers on the test set. To identify Aβ-related dominant brain regions involved in cognitive prediction, we built the local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) model. We found elevated Aβ in MCI compared to controls and a stronger correlation between Aβ and cognition, particularly in Braak stages III-IV and V-VII (p < 0.05) biomarkers. Both SVR and ANN, especially ANN, showed strong predictive relationships between regional Aβ biomarkers and cognitive impairment (p < 0.05). LIME integrated with ANN showed that the parahippocampal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, and hippocampus were the most decisive Braak regions for predicting cognitive decline. Consistent with previous findings, this new approach suggests relationships between Aβ biomarkers and cognitive impairment. The proposed analytical framework can estimate cognitive impairment from Braak staging Aβ biomarkers and delineate the dominant brain regions collectively involved in AD pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puskar Bhattarai
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ahmed Taha
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Bhavin Soni
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Deepa S Thakuri
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO, USA
| | - Erin Ritter
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University McKelvey School of Engineering, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ganesh B Chand
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Imaging Core, Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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15
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Tosun D, Thropp P, Southekal S, Spottiswoode B, Fahmi R. Profiling and predicting distinct tau progression patterns: An unsupervised data-driven approach to flortaucipir positron emission tomography. Alzheimers Dement 2023; 19:5605-5619. [PMID: 37288753 PMCID: PMC10704003 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION How to detect patterns of greater tau burden and accumulation is still an open question. METHODS An unsupervised data-driven whole-brain pattern analysis of longitudinal tau positron emission tomography (PET) was used first to identify distinct tau accumulation profiles and then to build baseline models predictive of tau-accumulation type. RESULTS The data-driven analysis of longitudinal flortaucipir PET from studies done by the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Avid Pharmaceuticals, and Harvard Aging Brain Study (N = 348 cognitively unimpaired, N = 188 mild cognitive impairment, N = 77 dementia), yielded three distinct flortaucipir-progression profiles: stable, moderate accumulator, and fast accumulator. Baseline flortaucipir levels, amyloid beta (Aβ) positivity, and clinical variables, identified moderate and fast accumulators with 81% and 95% positive predictive values, respectively. Screening for fast tau accumulation and Aβ positivity in early Alzheimer's disease, compared to Aβ positivity with variable tau progression profiles, required 46% to 77% lower sample size to achieve 80% power for 30% slowing of clinical decline. DISCUSSION Predicting tau progression with baseline imaging and clinical markers could allow screening of high-risk individuals most likely to benefit from a specific treatment regimen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duygu Tosun
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA 94143
- Northern California Institute of Research and Education, San Francisco, CA, USA 94121
| | - Pamela Thropp
- Northern California Institute of Research and Education, San Francisco, CA, USA 94121
| | | | - Bruce Spottiswoode
- Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Molecular Imaging, Knoxville, TN, USA 37932
| | - Rachid Fahmi
- Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Molecular Imaging, Knoxville, TN, USA 37932
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16
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Steward A, Biel D, Dewenter A, Roemer S, Wagner F, Dehsarvi A, Rathore S, Otero Svaldi D, Higgins I, Brendel M, Dichgans M, Shcherbinin S, Ewers M, Franzmeier N. ApoE4 and Connectivity-Mediated Spreading of Tau Pathology at Lower Amyloid Levels. JAMA Neurol 2023; 80:1295-1306. [PMID: 37930695 PMCID: PMC10628846 DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.4038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Importance For the Alzheimer disease (AD) therapies to effectively attenuate clinical progression, it may be critical to intervene before the onset of amyloid-associated tau spreading, which drives neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Time points at which amyloid-associated tau spreading accelerates may depend on individual risk factors, such as apolipoprotein E ε4 (ApoE4) carriership, which is linked to faster disease progression; however, the association of ApoE4 with amyloid-related tau spreading is unclear. Objective To assess if ApoE4 carriers show accelerated amyloid-related tau spreading and propose amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) thresholds at which tau spreading accelerates in ApoE4 carriers vs noncarriers. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study including combined ApoE genotyping, amyloid PET, and longitudinal tau PET from 2 independent samples: the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI; n = 237; collected from April 2015 to August 2022) and Avid-A05 (n = 130; collected from December 2013 to July 2017) with a mean (SD) tau PET follow-up time of 1.9 (0.96) years in ADNI and 1.4 (0.23) years in Avid-A05. ADNI is an observational multicenter Alzheimer disease neuroimaging initiative and Avid-A05 an observational clinical trial. Participants classified as cognitively normal (152 in ADNI and 77 in Avid-A05) or mildly cognitively impaired (107 in ADNI and 53 in Avid-A05) were selected based on ApoE genotyping, amyloid-PET, and longitudinal tau PET data availability. Participants with ApoE ε2/ε4 genotype or classified as having dementia were excluded. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity templates were based on 42 healthy participants in ADNI. Main Outcomes and Measures Mediation of amyloid PET on the association between ApoE4 status and subsequent tau PET increase through Braak stage regions and interaction between ApoE4 status and amyloid PET with annual tau PET increase through Braak stage regions and connectivity-based spreading stages (tau epicenter connectivity ranked regions). Results The mean (SD) age was 73.9 (7.35) years among the 237 ADNI participants and 70.2 (9.7) years among the 130 Avid-A05 participants. A total of 107 individuals in ADNI (45.1%) and 45 in Avid-A05 (34.6%) were ApoE4 carriers. Across both samples, we found that higher amyloid PET-mediated ApoE4-related tau PET increased globally (ADNI b, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.05-0.28; P = .001 and Avid-A05 b, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.14-0.54; P < .001) and in earlier Braak regions. Further, we found a significant association between ApoE4 status by amyloid PET interaction and annual tau PET increases consistently through early Braak- and connectivity-based stages where amyloid-related tau accumulation was accelerated in ApoE4carriers vs noncarriers at lower centiloid thresholds, corrected for age and sex. Conclusions and Relevance The findings in this study indicate that amyloid-related tau accumulation was accelerated in ApoE4 carriers at lower amyloid levels, suggesting that ApoE4 may facilitate earlier amyloid-driven tau spreading across connected brain regions. Possible therapeutic implications might be further investigated to determine when best to prevent tau spreading and thus cognitive decline depending on ApoE4 status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Steward
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Davina Biel
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna Dewenter
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Sebastian Roemer
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Fabian Wagner
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Amir Dehsarvi
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Matthias Brendel
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Munich, Germany
| | - Martin Dichgans
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Munich, Germany
| | | | - Michael Ewers
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Munich, Germany
| | - Nicolai Franzmeier
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Munich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
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17
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Burnham SC, Iaccarino L, Pontecorvo MJ, Fleisher AS, Lu M, Collins EC, Devous MD. A review of the flortaucipir literature for positron emission tomography imaging of tau neurofibrillary tangles. Brain Commun 2023; 6:fcad305. [PMID: 38187878 PMCID: PMC10768888 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease is defined by the presence of β-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles potentially preceding clinical symptoms by many years. Previously only detectable post-mortem, these pathological hallmarks are now identifiable using biomarkers, permitting an in vivo definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. 18F-flortaucipir (previously known as 18F-T807; 18F-AV-1451) was the first tau positron emission tomography tracer to be introduced and is the only Food and Drug Administration-approved tau positron emission tomography tracer (Tauvid™). It has been widely adopted and validated in a number of independent research and clinical settings. In this review, we present an overview of the published literature on flortaucipir for positron emission tomography imaging of neurofibrillary tau tangles. We considered all accessible peer-reviewed literature pertaining to flortaucipir through 30 April 2022. We found 474 relevant peer-reviewed publications, which were organized into the following categories based on their primary focus: typical Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment and pre-symptomatic populations; atypical Alzheimer's disease; non-Alzheimer's disease neurodegenerative conditions; head-to-head comparisons with other Tau positron emission tomography tracers; and technical considerations. The available flortaucipir literature provides substantial evidence for the use of this positron emission tomography tracer in assessing neurofibrillary tau tangles in Alzheimer's disease and limited support for its use in other neurodegenerative disorders. Visual interpretation and quantitation approaches, although heterogeneous, mostly converge and demonstrate the high diagnostic and prognostic value of flortaucipir in Alzheimer's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Ming Lu
- Avid, Eli Lilly and Company, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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18
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Sokolovič L, Hofmann MJ, Mohammad N, Kukolja J. Neuropsychological differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia: a systematic review with meta-regressions. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1267434. [PMID: 38020767 PMCID: PMC10657839 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1267434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Diagnostic classification systems and guidelines posit distinguishing patterns of impairment in Alzheimer's (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). In our study, we aim to identify which diagnostic instruments distinguish them. Methods We searched PubMed and PsychInfo for empirical studies published until December 2020, which investigated differences in cognitive, behavioral, psychiatric, and functional measures in patients older than 64 years and reported information on VaD subtype, age, education, dementia severity, and proportion of women. We systematically reviewed these studies and conducted Bayesian hierarchical meta-regressions to quantify the evidence for differences using the Bayes factor (BF). The risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa-Scale and funnel plots. Results We identified 122 studies with 17,850 AD and 5,247 VaD patients. Methodological limitations of the included studies are low comparability of patient groups and an untransparent patient selection process. In the digit span backward task, AD patients were nine times more probable (BF = 9.38) to outperform VaD patients (β g = 0.33, 95% ETI = 0.12, 0.52). In the phonemic fluency task, AD patients outperformed subcortical VaD (sVaD) patients (β g = 0.51, 95% ETI = 0.22, 0.77, BF = 42.36). VaD patients, in contrast, outperformed AD patients in verbal (β g = -0.61, 95% ETI = -0.97, -0.26, BF = 22.71) and visual (β g = -0.85, 95% ETI = -1.29, -0.32, BF = 13.67) delayed recall. We found the greatest difference in verbal memory, showing that sVaD patients outperform AD patients (β g = -0.64, 95% ETI = -0.88, -0.36, BF = 72.97). Finally, AD patients performed worse than sVaD patients in recognition memory tasks (β g = -0.76, 95% ETI = -1.26, -0.26, BF = 11.50). Conclusion Our findings show inferior performance of AD in episodic memory and superior performance in working memory. We found little support for other differences proposed by diagnostic systems and diagnostic guidelines. The utility of cognitive, behavioral, psychiatric, and functional measures in differential diagnosis is limited and should be complemented by other information. Finally, we identify research areas and avenues, which could significantly improve the diagnostic value of cognitive measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Sokolovič
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
- Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
- Department of General and Biological Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Markus J. Hofmann
- Department of General and Biological Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Nadia Mohammad
- Department of General and Biological Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Juraj Kukolja
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
- Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
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19
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Bhoopal B, Gollapelli KK, Damuka N, Miller M, Krizan I, Bansode A, Register T, Frye BM, Kim J, Mintz A, Orr M, Craft S, Whitlow C, Lockhart SN, Shively CA, Solingapuram Sai KK. Preliminary PET Imaging of Microtubule-Based PET Radioligand [ 11C]MPC-6827 in a Nonhuman Primate Model of Alzheimer's Disease. ACS Chem Neurosci 2023; 14:3745-3751. [PMID: 37724996 PMCID: PMC10966409 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.3c00527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The microtubule (MT) instability observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is commonly attributed to hyperphosphorylation of the MT-associated protein, tau. In vivo PET imaging offers an opportunity to gain critical information about MT changes with the onset and development of AD and related dementia. We developed the first brain-penetrant MT PET ligand, [11C]MPC-6827, and evaluated its in vivo imaging utility in vervet monkeys. Consistent with our previous in vitro cell uptake and in vivo rodent imaging experiments, [11C]MPC-6827 uptake increased with MT destabilization. Radioactive uptake was inversely related to (cerebrospinal fluid) CSF Aβ42 levels and directly related to age in a nonhuman primate (NHP) model of AD. Additionally, in vitro autoradiography studies also corroborated PET imaging results. Here, we report the preliminary results of PET imaging with [11C]MPC-6827 in four female vervet monkeys with high or low CSF Aβ42 levels, which have been shown to correlate with the Aβ plaque burden, similar to humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhuvanachandra Bhoopal
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Krishna Kumar Gollapelli
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Naresh Damuka
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Mack Miller
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Ivan Krizan
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Avinash Bansode
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Thomas Register
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Brett M Frye
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Jeongchul Kim
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Akiva Mintz
- Department of Radiology, Columbia University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Miranda Orr
- Department of Gerontology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Suzanne Craft
- Department of Gerontology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Christopher Whitlow
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Samuel N Lockhart
- Department of Gerontology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
| | - Carol A Shively
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, United States
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20
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Ding J, Shen C, Wang Z, Yang Y, El Fakhri G, Lu J, Liang D, Zheng H, Zhou Y, Sun T. Tau-PET abnormality as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease staging and early detection: a topological perspective. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10649-10659. [PMID: 37653600 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease can be detected early through biomarkers such as tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, which shows abnormal protein accumulations in the brain. The standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) is often used to quantify tau-PET imaging, but topological information from multiple brain regions is also linked to tau pathology. Here a new method was developed to investigate the correlations between brain regions using subject-level tau networks. Participants with cognitive normal (74), early mild cognitive impairment (35), late mild cognitive impairment (32), and Alzheimer's disease (40) were included. The abnormality network from each scan was constructed to extract topological features, and 7 functional clusters were further analyzed for connectivity strengths. Results showed that the proposed method performed better than conventional SUVR measures for disease staging and prodromal sign detection. For example, when to differ healthy subjects with and without amyloid deposition, topological biomarker is significant with P < 0.01, SUVR is not with P > 0.05. Functionally significant clusters, i.e. medial temporal lobe, default mode network, and visual-related regions, were identified as critical hubs vulnerable to early disease conversion before mild cognitive impairment. These findings were replicated in an independent data cohort, demonstrating the potential to monitor the early sign and progression of Alzheimer's disease from a topological perspective for individual.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Ding
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Chushu Shen
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhenguo Wang
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Yongfeng Yang
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Georges El Fakhri
- Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
| | - Jie Lu
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, People's Republic of China
| | - Dong Liang
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Hairong Zheng
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
| | - Yun Zhou
- Central Research Institute, United Imaging Healthcare Group Co., Ltd, Shanghai 201807, People's Republic of China
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Tech University, Shanghai 201210, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Sun
- Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 100864, People's Republic of China
- United Imaging Research Institute of Innovative Medical Equipment, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China
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21
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Costoya-Sánchez A, Moscoso A, Silva-Rodríguez J, Pontecorvo MJ, Devous MD, Aguiar P, Schöll M, Grothe MJ. Increased Medial Temporal Tau Positron Emission Tomography Uptake in the Absence of Amyloid-β Positivity. JAMA Neurol 2023; 80:1051-1061. [PMID: 37578787 PMCID: PMC10425864 DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.2560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
Importance An increased tau positron emission tomography (PET) signal in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) has been observed in older individuals in the absence of amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology. Little is known about the longitudinal course of this condition, and its association with Alzheimer disease (AD) remains unclear. Objective To study the pathologic and clinical course of older individuals with PET-evidenced MTL tau deposition (TMTL+) in the absence of Aβ pathology (A-), and the association of this condition with the AD continuum. Design, Setting, and Participants A multicentric, observational, longitudinal cohort study was conducted using pooled data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS), and the AVID-A05 study, collected between July 2, 2015, and August 23, 2021. Participants in the ADNI, HABS, and AVID-A05 studies (N = 1093) with varying degrees of cognitive performance were deemed eligible if they had available tau PET, Aβ PET, and magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline. Of these, 128 participants did not meet inclusion criteria based on Aβ PET and tau PET biomarker profiles (A+ TMTL-). Exposures Tau and Aβ PET, magnetic resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, and cognitive assessments. Main Outcomes and Measures Cross-sectional and longitudinal measures for tau and Aβ PET, cortical atrophy, cognitive scores, and core AD cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (Aβ42/40 and tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 p-tau181 available in a subset). Results Among the 965 individuals included in the study, 503 were women (52.1%) and the mean (SD) age was 73.9 (8.1) years. A total of 51% of A- individuals and 78% of A+ participants had increased tau PET signal in the entorhinal cortex (TMTL+) compared with healthy younger (aged <39 years) controls. Compared with A- TMTL-, A- TMTL+ participants showed statistically significant, albeit moderate, longitudinal (mean [SD], 1.83 [0.84] years) tau PET increases that were largely limited to the temporal lobe, whereas those with A+ TMTL+ showed faster and more cortically widespread tau PET increases. In contrast to participants with A+ TMTL+, those with A- TMTL+ did not show any noticeable Aβ accumulation over follow-up (mean [SD], 2.36 [0.76] years). Complementary cerebrospinal fluid analysis confirmed longitudinal p-tau181 increases in A- TMTL+ in the absence of increased Aβ accumulation. Participants with A- TMTL+ had accelerated MTL atrophy, whereas those with A+ TMTL+ showed accelerated atrophy in widespread temporoparietal brain regions. Increased MTL tau PET uptake in A- individuals was associated with cognitive decline, but at a significantly slower rate compared with A+ TMTL+. Conclusions and Relevance In this study, individuals with A- TMTL+ exhibited progressive tau accumulation and neurodegeneration, but these processes were comparably slow, remained largely restricted to the MTL, were associated with only subtle changes in global cognitive performance, and were not accompanied by detectable accumulation of Aβ biomarkers. These data suggest that individuals with A- TMTL+ are not on a pathologic trajectory toward AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Costoya-Sánchez
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Nuclear Medicine Department and Molecular Imaging Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostel, Travesía da Choupana s/n, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alexis Moscoso
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Physiology and Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Jesús Silva-Rodríguez
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Unidad de Trastornos del Movimiento, Servicio de Neurología y Neurofisiología Clínica, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
| | - Michael J. Pontecorvo
- Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Michael D. Devous
- Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Pablo Aguiar
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Nuclear Medicine Department and Molecular Imaging Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostel, Travesía da Choupana s/n, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Michael Schöll
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Physiology and Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Dementia Research Centre, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Michel J. Grothe
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Unidad de Trastornos del Movimiento, Servicio de Neurología y Neurofisiología Clínica, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
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22
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Lepinay E, Cicchetti F. Tau: a biomarker of Huntington's disease. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:4070-4083. [PMID: 37749233 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02230-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
Developing effective treatments for patients with Huntington's disease (HD)-a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by severe cognitive, motor and psychiatric impairments-is proving extremely challenging. While the monogenic nature of this condition enables to identify individuals at risk, robust biomarkers would still be extremely valuable to help diagnose disease onset and progression, and especially to confirm treatment efficacy. If measurements of cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament levels, for example, have demonstrated use in recent clinical trials, other proteins may prove equal, if not greater, relevance as biomarkers. In fact, proteins such as tau could specifically be used to detect/predict cognitive affectations. We have herein reviewed the literature pertaining to the association between tau levels and cognitive states, zooming in on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and traumatic brain injury in which imaging, cerebrospinal fluid, and blood samples have been interrogated or used to unveil a strong association between tau and cognition. Collectively, these areas of research have accrued compelling evidence to suggest tau-related measurements as both diagnostic and prognostic tools for clinical practice. The abundance of information retrieved in this niche of study has laid the groundwork for further understanding whether tau-related biomarkers may be applied to HD and guide future investigations to better understand and treat this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Lepinay
- Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec, Axe Neurosciences, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Francesca Cicchetti
- Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec, Axe Neurosciences, Québec, QC, Canada.
- Département de Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
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23
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Emmerson JT, Do Carmo S, Liu Y, Shalhoub A, Liu A, Bonomo Q, Malcolm JC, Breuillaud L, Cuello AC. Progressive human-like tauopathy with downstream neurodegeneration and neurovascular compromise in a transgenic rat model. Neurobiol Dis 2023; 184:106227. [PMID: 37454780 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Tauopathies, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), clinically present with progressive cognitive decline and the deposition of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the brain. Neurovascular compromise is also prevalent in AD and FTD however the relationship between tau and the neurovascular unit is less understood relative to other degenerative phenotypes. Current animal models confer the ability to recapitulate aspects of the CNS tauopathies, however, existing models either display overaggressive phenotypes, or do not develop neuronal loss or genuine neurofibrillary lesions. In this report, we communicate the longitudinal characterization of brain tauopathy in a novel transgenic rat model, coded McGill-R955-hTau. The model expresses the longest isoform of human P301S tau. Homozygous R955-hTau rats displayed a robust, progressive accumulation of mutated human tau leading to the detection of tau hyperphosphorylation and cognitive deficits accelerating from 14 months of age. This model features extensive tau hyperphosphorylation with endogenous tau recruitment, authentic neurofibrillary lesions, and tau-associated neuronal loss, ventricular dilation, decreased brain volume, and gliosis in aged rats. Further, we demonstrate how neurovascular integrity becomes compromised at aged life stages using a combination of electron microscopy, injection of the tracer horseradish peroxidase and immunohistochemical approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua T Emmerson
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal H3G1Y6, Canada
| | - Sonia Do Carmo
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal H3G1Y6, Canada
| | - Yingying Liu
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal H3G1Y6, Canada
| | - Ali Shalhoub
- Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal H3A 0C7, Canada
| | - Ai Liu
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal H3A 1A1, Canada
| | - Quentin Bonomo
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal H3A 1A1, Canada
| | - Janice C Malcolm
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University, Montreal H3A 0C7, Canada
| | - Lionel Breuillaud
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal H3G1Y6, Canada
| | - A Claudio Cuello
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal H3G1Y6, Canada; Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal H3A 1A1, Canada; Department of Pharmacology, Oxford University, Oxford OX13QT, UK.
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Lamontagne-Kam D, Ulfat AK, Hervé V, Vu TM, Brouillette J. Implication of tau propagation on neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1219299. [PMID: 37483337 PMCID: PMC10360202 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1219299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Propagation of tau fibrils correlate closely with neurodegeneration and memory deficits seen during the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although it is not well-established what drives or attenuates tau spreading, new studies on human brain using positron emission tomography (PET) have shed light on how tau phosphorylation, genetic factors, and the initial epicenter of tau accumulation influence tau accumulation and propagation throughout the brain. Here, we review the latest PET studies performed across the entire AD continuum looking at the impact of amyloid load on tau pathology. We also explore the effects of structural, functional, and proximity connectivity on tau spreading in a stereotypical manner in the brain of AD patients. Since tau propagation can be quite heterogenous between individuals, we then consider how the speed and pattern of propagation are influenced by the starting localization of tau accumulation in connected brain regions. We provide an overview of some genetic variants that were shown to accelerate or slow down tau spreading. Finally, we discuss how phosphorylation of certain tau epitopes affect the spreading of tau fibrils. Since tau pathology is an early event in AD pathogenesis and is one of the best predictors of neurodegeneration and memory impairments, understanding the process by which tau spread from one brain region to another could pave the way to novel therapeutic avenues that are efficient during the early stages of the disease, before neurodegeneration induces permanent brain damage and severe memory loss.
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Wang X, Broce I, Qiu Y, Deters KD, Fan CC, Dale AM, Edland SD, Banks SJ. A simple genetic stratification method for lower cost, more expedient clinical trials in early Alzheimer's disease: A preliminary study of tau PET and cognitive outcomes. Alzheimers Dement 2023; 19:3078-3086. [PMID: 36701211 PMCID: PMC10368787 DOI: 10.1002/alz.12952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Identifying individuals who are most likely to accumulate tau and exhibit cognitive decline is critical for Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials. METHODS Participants (N = 235) who were cognitively normal or with mild cognitive impairment from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were stratified by a cutoff on the polygenic hazard score (PHS) at 65th percentile (above as high-risk group and below as low-risk group). We evaluated the associations between the PHS risk groups and tau positron emission tomography and cognitive decline, respectively. Power analyses estimated the sample size needed for clinical trials to detect differences in tau accumulation or cognitive change. RESULTS The high-risk group showed faster tau accumulation and cognitive decline. Clinical trials using the high-risk group would require a fraction of the sample size as trials without this inclusion criterion. DISCUSSION Incorporating a PHS inclusion criterion represents a low-cost and accessible way to identify potential participants for AD clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- University of California, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Iris Broce
- University of California, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Yuqi Qiu
- East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
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St-Onge F, Chapleau M, Breitner JCS, Villeneuve S, Binette AP. Tau accumulation and its spatial progression across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.06.02.23290880. [PMID: 37333413 PMCID: PMC10274981 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.02.23290880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
The spread of tau abnormality in sporadic Alzheimer's disease is believed typically to follow neuropathologically defined Braak staging. Recent in-vivo positron emission tomography (PET) evidence challenges this belief, however, as spreading patterns for tau appear heterogenous among individuals with varying clinical expression of Alzheimer's disease. We therefore sought better understanding of the spatial distribution of tau in the preclinical and clinical phases of sporadic Alzheimer's disease and its association with cognitive decline. Longitudinal tau-PET data (1,370 scans) from 832 participants (463 cognitively unimpaired, 277 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 92 with Alzheimer's disease dementia) were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Among these, we defined thresholds of abnormal tau deposition in 70 brain regions from the Desikan atlas, and for each group of regions characteristic of Braak staging. We summed each scan's number of regions with abnormal tau deposition to form a spatial extent index. We then examined patterns of tau pathology cross-sectionally and longitudinally and assessed their heterogeneity. Finally, we compared our spatial extent index of tau uptake with a temporal meta region of interest-a commonly used proxy of tau burden-assessing their association with cognitive scores and clinical progression. More than 80% of amyloid-beta positive participants across diagnostic groups followed typical Braak staging, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Within each Braak stage, however, the pattern of abnormality demonstrated significant heterogeneity such that overlap of abnormal regions across participants averaged less than 50%. The annual rate of change in number of abnormal tau-PET regions was similar among individuals without cognitive impairment and those with Alzheimer's disease dementia. Spread of disease progressed more rapidly, however, among participants with MCI. The latter's change on our spatial extent measure amounted to 2.5 newly abnormal regions per year, as contrasted with 1 region/year among the other groups. Comparing the association of tau pathology and cognitive performance in MCI and Alzheimer's disease dementia, our spatial extent index was superior to the temporal meta-ROI for measures of executive function. Thus, while participants broadly followed Braak stages, significant individual regional heterogeneity of tau binding was observed at each clinical stage. Progression of spatial extent of tau pathology appears to be fastest in persons with MCI. Exploring the spatial distribution of tau deposits throughout the entire brain may uncover further pathological variations and their correlation with impairments in cognitive functions beyond memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric St-Onge
- Integrated Program in Neuroscience, Faculty of medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Qc, H3A 2B4, Canada
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Qc, H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Marianne Chapleau
- Faculty of medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, United-States
| | - John CS Breitner
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Qc, H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of psychiatry, Faculty of medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y2, Canada
| | - Sylvia Villeneuve
- Research Center of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Qc, H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of psychiatry, Faculty of medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y2, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Alexa Pichet Binette
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, 205 02, Sweden
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Fernández Arias J, Therriault J, Thomas E, Lussier FZ, Bezgin G, Tissot C, Servaes S, Mathotaarachchi SS, Schoemaker D, Stevenson J, Rahmouni N, Kang MS, Pallen V, Poltronetti NM, Wang YT, Kunach P, Chamoun M, Quispialaya S KM, Vitali P, Massarweh G, Gauthier S, Rajah MN, Pascoal T, Rosa-Neto P. Verbal memory formation across PET-based Braak stages of tau accumulation in Alzheimer's disease. Brain Commun 2023; 5:fcad146. [PMID: 37252014 PMCID: PMC10213301 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
A classical early sign of typical Alzheimer's disease is memory decline, which has been linked to the aggregation of tau in the medial temporal lobe. Verbal delayed free recall and recognition tests have consistently probed useful to detect early memory decline, and there is substantial debate on how performance, particularly in recognition tests, is differentially affected through health and disease in older adults. Using in vivo PET-Braak staging, we investigated delayed recall and recognition memory dysfunction across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum. Our cross-sectional study included 144 cognitively unimpaired elderly, 39 amyloid-β+ individuals with mild cognitive impairment and 29 amyloid-β+ Alzheimer's disease patients from the Translational Biomarkers in Aging and Dementia cohort, who underwent [18F]MK6240 tau and [18F]AZD4694 amyloid PET imaging, structural MRI and memory assessments. We applied non-parametric comparisons, correlation analyses, regression models and voxel-wise analyses. In comparison with PET-Braak Stage 0, we found that reduced, but not clinically significant, delayed recall starts at PET-Braak Stage II (adjusted P < 0.0015), and that recognition (adjusted P = 0.011) displayed a significant decline starting at PET-Braak Stage IV. While performance in both delayed recall and recognition related to tau in nearly the same cortical areas, further analyses showed that delayed recall rendered stronger associations in areas of early tau accumulation, whereas recognition displayed stronger correlations in mostly posterior neocortical regions. Our results support the notion that delayed recall and recognition deficits are predominantly associated with tau load in allocortical and neocortical areas, respectively. Overall, delayed recall seems to be more dependent on the integrity of anterior medial temporal lobe structures, while recognition appears to be more affected by tau accumulation in cortices beyond medial temporal regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaime Fernández Arias
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Joseph Therriault
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Emilie Thomas
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Firoza Z Lussier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Gleb Bezgin
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Cécile Tissot
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Stijn Servaes
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Sulantha S Mathotaarachchi
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Dorothée Schoemaker
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Jenna Stevenson
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Nesrine Rahmouni
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Min Su Kang
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Vanessa Pallen
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Nina Margherita Poltronetti
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Yi-Ting Wang
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Peter Kunach
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Mira Chamoun
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Kely M Quispialaya S
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 2M1, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Paolo Vitali
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Gassan Massarweh
- Department of Radiochemistry, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Serge Gauthier
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurger, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Maria N Rajah
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Tharick Pascoal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Pedro Rosa-Neto
- Correspondence to: Pedro Rosa-Neto, MD, PhD The McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging 6825 LaSalle Blvd, Montréal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada E-mail:
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Weigand AJ, Ortiz G, Walker KS, Galasko DR, Bondi MW, Thomas KR. APOE differentially moderates cerebrospinal fluid and plasma phosphorylated tau181 associations with multi-domain cognition. Neurobiol Aging 2023; 125:1-8. [PMID: 36780762 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Revised: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Biofluid markers of phosphorylated tau181 (p-tau181) are increasingly popular for the detection of early Alzheimer's pathologic changes. However, the differential dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma p-tau181 remain under investigation. We studied 727 participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative with plasma and CSF p-tau181 data, apolipoprotein (APOE) ε4 carrier status, amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, and neuropsychological data. Higher levels of plasma and CSF p-tau181 were observed among APOE ε4 carriers. CSF and plasma p-tau181 were significantly associated with memory, and this effect was greater in APOE ε4 carriers. However, whereas CSF p-tau181 was not significantly associated with language or attention/executive function among ε4 carriers or non-carriers, APOE ε4 status moderated the association of plasma p-tau181 with both language and attention/executive function. These findings lend support to the notion that p-tau181 biofluid markers are useful in measuring AD pathologic changes but also suggest that CSF and plasma p-tau181 have unique properties and dynamics that should be considered when using these markers in research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra J Weigand
- San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Gema Ortiz
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Kayla S Walker
- San Diego State University, Department of Psychology, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Douglas R Galasko
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA; University of California San Diego, Department of Neurosciences, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Mark W Bondi
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA; University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Kelsey R Thomas
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA; University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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Ramirez LM, Zweckstetter M. Molecular-level interplay between intrinsically disordered clients and Hsp90. Curr Opin Chem Biol 2023; 74:102304. [PMID: 37068388 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2023.102304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
Abstract
Proteostasis is maintained by a network of molecular chaperones, a prominent member of which is the 90-kilodalton heat shock protein Hsp90. The chaperone function of Hsp90 has been extensively reviewed previously, emphasizing its ATPase activity and remodeling of folded client proteins. Experimental evidence implicating Hsp90 in neurodegenerative diseases has bolstered interest in the noncanonical chaperoning of intrinsically disordered protein (IDPs), however the interplay between Hsp90 and its disordered clients remains poorly understood. In this review we describe recent advances that have contributed to our understanding of the intricate mechanisms characterizing Hsp90-mediated chaperoning of the IDPs tau and α-synuclein and survey emerging insights into the modulation of the chaperone-client interplay in the context of neurodegeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Marie Ramirez
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Von-Siebold-Str. 3a, 37075 Gӧttingen, Germany
| | - Markus Zweckstetter
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Von-Siebold-Str. 3a, 37075 Gӧttingen, Germany; Department for NMR-based Structural Biology, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Gӧttingen, Germany.
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30
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Malarte ML, Gillberg PG, Kumar A, Bogdanovic N, Lemoine L, Nordberg A. Discriminative binding of tau PET tracers PI2620, MK6240 and RO948 in Alzheimer's disease, corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy brains. Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:1272-1283. [PMID: 36447011 PMCID: PMC10005967 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01875-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Recent mechanistic and structural studies have challenged the classical tauopathy classification approach and revealed the complexity and heterogeneity of tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and primary tauopathies such as corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), progressing beyond distinct tau isoforms. In this multi-tau tracer study, we focused on the new second-generation tau PET tracers PI2620, MK6240 and RO948 to investigate this tau complexity in AD, CBD, and PSP brains using post-mortem radioligand binding studies and autoradiography of large and small frozen brain sections. Saturation binding studies indicated multiple binding sites for 3H-PI2620 in AD, CBD and PSP brains with different binding affinities (Kd ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 nM) and binding site densities (following the order: BmaxAD > BmaxCBD > BmaxPSP). Competitive binding studies complemented these findings, demonstrating the presence of two binding sites [super-high affinity (SHA): IC50(1) = 8.1 pM; and high affinity (HA): IC50(2) = 4.9 nM] in AD brains. Regional binding distribution studies showed that 3H-PI2620 could discriminate between AD (n = 6) and control cases (n = 9), especially in frontal cortex and temporal cortex tissue (p < 0.001) as well as in the hippocampal region (p = 0.02). 3H-PI2620, 3H-MK6240 and 3H-RO948 displayed similar binding behaviour in AD brains (in both homogenate competitive studies and one large frozen hemispherical brain section autoradiography studies) in terms of binding affinities, number of sites and regional patterns. Our small section autoradiography studies in the frontal cortex of CBD (n = 3) and PSP brains (n = 2) showed high specificity for 3H-PI2620 but not for 3H-MK6240 or 3H-RO948. Our findings clearly demonstrate different binding properties among the second-generation tau PET tracers, which may assist in further understanding of tau heterogeneity in AD versus non-AD tauopathies and suggests potential for development of pure selective 4R tau PET tracers.
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Grants
- Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning (Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research)
- Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (Swedish Research Council Formas)
- Stockholms Läns Landsting (Stockholm County Council)
- Hjärnfonden (Swedish Brain Foundation)
- Stockholm County Council -Karolinska Institute regional agreement on medical training and clinical research (ALF grant),the Swedish Alzheimer Foundation, the Foundation for Old Servants, Gun and Bertil Stohne’s Foundation, the KI Foundation for Geriatric Diseases, the Swedish Dementia Foundation, the Center for Innovative Medicine (CIMED) Region Stockholm, the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF-019728), the Alzheimer Association USA (AARF -21-848395), and the Recherche sur Alzheimer Foundation (Paris, France).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona-Lisa Malarte
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Per-Göran Gillberg
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Amit Kumar
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nenad Bogdanovic
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Theme Inflammation and Aging, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Laëtitia Lemoine
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Agneta Nordberg
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Theme Inflammation and Aging, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Mohanty R, Ferreira D, Nordberg A, Westman E. Associations between different tau-PET patterns and longitudinal atrophy in the Alzheimer's disease continuum: biological and methodological perspectives from disease heterogeneity. Alzheimers Res Ther 2023; 15:37. [PMID: 36814346 PMCID: PMC9945609 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-023-01173-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Subtypes and patterns are defined using tau-PET (tau pathology) and structural MRI (atrophy) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the relationship between tau pathology and atrophy across these subtypes/patterns remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the biological association between baseline tau-PET patterns and longitudinal atrophy in the AD continuum; and the methodological characterization of heterogeneity as a continuous phenomenon over the conventional discrete subgrouping. METHODS In 366 individuals (amyloid-beta-positive cognitively normal, prodromal AD, AD dementia; amyloid-beta-negative cognitively normal), we examined the association between tau-PET patterns and longitudinal MRI. We modeled tau-PET patterns as a (a) continuous phenomenon with key dimensions: typicality and severity; and (b) discrete phenomenon by categorization into patterns: typical, limbic predominant, cortical predominant and minimal tau. Tau-PET patterns and associated longitudinal atrophy were contextualized within the Amyloid/Tau/Neurodegeneration (A/T/N) biomarker scheme. RESULTS Localization and longitudinal atrophy change vary differentially across different tau-PET patterns in the AD continuum. Atrophy, a downstream event, did not always follow a topography akin to the corresponding tau-PET pattern. Further, heterogeneity as a continuous phenomenon offered an alternative and useful characterization, sharing correspondence with the conventional subgrouping. Tau-PET patterns also show differential A/T/N profiles. CONCLUSIONS The site and rate of atrophy are different across the tau-PET patterns. Heterogeneity should be treated as a continuous, not discrete, phenomenon for greater sensitivity. Pattern-specific A/T/N profiles highlight differential multimodal interactions underlying heterogeneity. Therefore, tracking multimodal interactions among biomarkers longitudinally, modeling disease heterogeneity as a continuous phenomenon, and examining heterogeneity across the AD continuum could offer avenues for precision medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosaleena Mohanty
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Blickagången 16, 14152, Huddinge, Sweden.
| | - Daniel Ferreira
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Blickagången 16, 14152, Huddinge, Sweden
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Agneta Nordberg
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Blickagången 16, 14152, Huddinge, Sweden
- Theme Aging, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Eric Westman
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Blickagången 16, 14152, Huddinge, Sweden
- Department of Neuroimaging, Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
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Risacher SL, Apostolova LG. Neuroimaging in Dementia. Continuum (Minneap Minn) 2023; 29:219-254. [PMID: 36795879 DOI: 10.1212/con.0000000000001248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Neurodegenerative diseases are significant health concerns with regard to morbidity and social and economic hardship around the world. This review describes the state of the field of neuroimaging measures as biomarkers for detection and diagnosis of both slowly progressing and rapidly progressing neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer disease, vascular cognitive impairment, dementia with Lewy bodies or Parkinson disease dementia, frontotemporal lobar degeneration spectrum disorders, and prion-related diseases. It briefly discusses findings in these diseases in studies using MRI and metabolic and molecular-based imaging (eg, positron emission tomography [PET] and single-photon emission computerized tomography [SPECT]). LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Neuroimaging studies with MRI and PET have demonstrated differential patterns of brain atrophy and hypometabolism in different neurodegenerative disorders, which can be useful in differential diagnoses. Advanced MRI sequences, such as diffusion-based imaging, and functional MRI (fMRI) provide important information about underlying biological changes in dementia and new directions for development of novel measures for future clinical use. Finally, advancements in molecular imaging allow clinicians and researchers to visualize dementia-related proteinopathies and neurotransmitter levels. ESSENTIAL POINTS Diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is primarily based on symptomatology, although the development of in vivo neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers is changing the scope of clinical diagnosis, as well as the research into these devastating diseases. This article will help inform the reader about the current state of neuroimaging in neurodegenerative diseases, as well as how these tools might be used for differential diagnoses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon L Risacher
- Address correspondence to Dr Shannon L. Risacher, 355 W 16th St, Indianapolis, IN 46202,
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Loftus JR, Puri S, Meyers SP. Multimodality imaging of neurodegenerative disorders with a focus on multiparametric magnetic resonance and molecular imaging. Insights Imaging 2023; 14:8. [PMID: 36645560 PMCID: PMC9842851 DOI: 10.1186/s13244-022-01358-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases afflict a large number of persons worldwide, with the prevalence and incidence of dementia rapidly increasing. Despite their prevalence, clinical diagnosis of dementia syndromes remains imperfect with limited specificity. Conventional structural-based imaging techniques also lack the accuracy necessary for confident diagnosis. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and molecular imaging provide the promise of improving specificity and sensitivity in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease as well as therapeutic monitoring of monoclonal antibody therapy. This educational review will briefly focus on the epidemiology, clinical presentation, and pathologic findings of common and uncommon neurodegenerative diseases. Imaging features of each disease spanning from conventional magnetic resonance sequences to advanced multiparametric methods such as resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and arterial spin labeling imaging will be described in detail. Additionally, the review will explore the findings of each diagnosis on molecular imaging including single-photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography with a variety of clinically used and experimental radiotracers. The literature and clinical cases provided demonstrate the power of advanced magnetic resonance imaging and molecular techniques in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and areas of future and ongoing research. With the advent of combined positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging scanners, hybrid protocols utilizing both techniques are an attractive option for improving the evaluation of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Ryan Loftus
- grid.412750.50000 0004 1936 9166Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642 USA
| | - Savita Puri
- grid.412750.50000 0004 1936 9166Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642 USA
| | - Steven P. Meyers
- grid.412750.50000 0004 1936 9166Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642 USA
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Meduri G, Guillemeau K, Daguinot C, Dounane O, Genet M, Ferrara L, Chambraud B, Baulieu EE, Giustiniani J. Concomitant Neuronal Tau Deposition and FKBP52 Decrease Is an Early Feature of Different Human and Experimental Tauopathies. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 94:313-331. [PMID: 37248902 PMCID: PMC10357213 DOI: 10.3233/jad-230127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pathological tau proteins constitute neurofibrillary tangles that accumulate in tauopathies including Alzheimer's disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-Tau). We previously showed that the FKBP52 immunophilin interacts functionally with tau and strongly decreases in AD brain neurons in correlation with tau deposition. We also reported that FKBP52 co-localizes with autophagy-lysosomal markers and an early pathological tau isoform in AD neurons, suggesting its involvement in autophagic tau clearance. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to evaluate if differences in neuronal FKBP52 expression levels and subcellular localization might be detected in AD, PSP, familial FTLD-Tau, and in the hTau-P301 S mouse model compared to controls. METHODS Cell by cell immunohistofluorescence analyses and quantification of FKBP52 were performed on postmortem brain samples of some human tauopathies and on hTau-P301 S mice spinal cords. RESULTS We describe a similar FKBP52 decrease and its localization with early pathological tau forms in the neuronal autophagy-lysosomal pathway in various tauopathies and hTau-P301 S mice. We find that FKBP52 decreases early during the pathologic process as it occurs in rare neurons with tau deposits in the marginally affected frontal cortex region of AD Braak IV brains and in the spinal cord of symptomless 1-month-old hTau-P301 S mice. CONCLUSION As FKBP52 plays a significant role in cellular signaling and conceivably in tau clearance, our data support the idea that the prevention of FKBP52 decrease or the restoration of its normal expression at early pathologic stages might represent a new potential therapeutic approach in tauopathies including AD, familial FTLD-Tau, and PSP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geri Meduri
- Institut Professeur Baulieu, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
| | | | | | - Omar Dounane
- Institut Professeur Baulieu, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
| | - Melanie Genet
- Institut Professeur Baulieu, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
| | - Luigi Ferrara
- Department of Biosciences, Biotechnology and Biopharmacology, UNIBA University, Bari, Italy
| | | | - Etienne Emile Baulieu
- Université Paris-Saclay, INSERM U1195, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
- Institut Professeur Baulieu, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
| | - Julien Giustiniani
- Université Paris-Saclay, INSERM U1195, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
- Institut Professeur Baulieu, Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
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Wu J, Su Y, Chen Y, Zhu W, Reiman EM, Caselli RJ, Chen K, Thompson PM, Wang J, Wang Y. A Surface-Based Federated Chow Test Model for Integrating APOE Status, Tau Deposition Measure, and Hippocampal Surface Morphometry. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 93:1153-1168. [PMID: 37182882 PMCID: PMC10329869 DOI: 10.3233/jad-230034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of age-related dementia, affecting 6.2 million people aged 65 or older according to CDC data. It is commonly agreed that discovering an effective AD diagnosis biomarker could have enormous public health benefits, potentially preventing or delaying up to 40% of dementia cases. Tau neurofibrillary tangles are the primary driver of downstream neurodegeneration and subsequent cognitive impairment in AD, resulting in structural deformations such as hippocampal atrophy that can be observed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. OBJECTIVE To build a surface-based model to 1) detect differences between APOE subgroups in patterns of tau deposition and hippocampal atrophy, and 2) use the extracted surface-based features to predict cognitive decline. METHODS Using data obtained from different institutions, we develop a surface-based federated Chow test model to study the synergistic effects of APOE, a previously reported significant risk factor of AD, and tau on hippocampal surface morphometry. RESULTS We illustrate that the APOE-specific morphometry features correlate with AD progression and better predict future AD conversion than other MRI biomarkers. For example, a strong association between atrophy and abnormal tau was identified in hippocampal subregion cornu ammonis 1 (CA1 subfield) and subiculum in e4 homozygote cohort. CONCLUSION Our model allows for identifying MRI biomarkers for AD and cognitive decline prediction and may uncover a corner of the neural mechanism of the influence of APOE and tau deposition on hippocampal morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianfeng Wu
- School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Yi Su
- Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Phoenix, USA
| | - Yanxi Chen
- School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Wenhui Zhu
- School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | | | | | - Kewei Chen
- Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Phoenix, USA
| | - Paul M. Thompson
- Imaging Genetics Center, Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, USA
| | - Junwen Wang
- Division of Applied Oral Sciences & Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yalin Wang
- School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
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Chow TE, Veziris CR, Mundada N, Martinez-Arroyo AI, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Rosen HJ, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rankin KP, Seeley WW, Rabinovici GD, La Joie R, Sturm VE. Medial Temporal Lobe Tau Aggregation Relates to Divergent Cognitive and Emotional Empathy Abilities in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 96:313-328. [PMID: 37742643 PMCID: PMC10894587 DOI: 10.3233/jad-230367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the gradual accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau proteins may underlie alterations in empathy. OBJECTIVE To assess whether tau aggregation in the medial temporal lobes related to differences in cognitive empathy (the ability to take others' perspectives) and emotional empathy (the ability to experience others' feelings) in AD. METHODS Older adults (n = 105) completed molecular Aβ positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Sixty-eight of the participants (35 women) were Aβ positive and symptomatic with diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment, dementia of the Alzheimer's type, logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia, or posterior cortical atrophy. The remaining 37 (22 women) were asymptomatic Aβ negative healthy older controls. Using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, we compared current levels of informant-rated cognitive empathy (Perspective-Taking subscale) and emotional empathy (Empathic Concern subscale) in the Aβ positive and negative participants. The Aβ positive participants also underwent molecular tau-PET scans, which were used to investigate whether regional tau burden in the bilateral medial temporal lobes related to empathy. RESULTS Aβ positive participants had lower perspective-taking and higher empathic concern than Aβ negative healthy controls. Medial temporal tau aggregation in the Aβ positive participants had divergent associations with cognitive and emotional empathy. Whereas greater tau burden in the amygdala predicted lower perspective-taking, greater tau burden in the entorhinal cortex predicted greater empathic concern. Tau burden in the parahippocampal cortex did not predict either form of empathy. CONCLUSIONS Across AD clinical syndromes, medial temporal lobe tau aggregation is associated with lower perspective-taking yet higher empathic concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiffany E. Chow
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Christina R. Veziris
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Nidhi Mundada
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alexis I. Martinez-Arroyo
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Joel H. Kramer
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Bruce L. Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Howard J. Rosen
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Katherine P. Rankin
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - William W. Seeley
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Gil D. Rabinovici
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Renaud La Joie
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Virginia E. Sturm
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
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Zhang J. Investigating neurological symptoms of infectious diseases like COVID-19 leading to a deeper understanding of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Front Neurol 2022; 13:968193. [PMID: 36570463 PMCID: PMC9768197 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.968193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Apart from common respiratory symptoms, neurological symptoms are prevalent among patients with COVID-19. Research has shown that infection with SARS-CoV-2 accelerated alpha-synuclein aggregation, induced Lewy-body-like pathology, caused dopaminergic neuron senescence, and worsened symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection can induce neuroinflammation and facilitate subsequent neurodegeneration in long COVID, and increase individual vulnerability to PD or parkinsonism. These findings suggest that a post-COVID-19 parkinsonism might follow the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to prevent a possible post-COVID-19 parkinsonism, this paper reviewed neurological symptoms and related findings of COVID-19 and related infectious diseases (influenza and prion disease) and neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's disease, PD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and discussed potential mechanisms underlying the neurological symptoms and the relationship between the infectious diseases and the neurodegenerative disorders, as well as the therapeutic and preventive implications in the neurodegenerative disorders. Infections with a relay of microbes (SARS-CoV-2, influenza A viruses, gut bacteria, etc.) and prion-like alpha-synuclein proteins over time may synergize to induce PD. Therefore, a systematic approach that targets these pathogens and the pathogen-induced neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration may provide cures for neurodegenerative disorders. Further, antiviral/antimicrobial drugs, vaccines, immunotherapies and new therapies (e.g., stem cell therapy) need to work together to treat, manage or prevent these disorders. As medical science and technology advances, it is anticipated that better vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 variants, new antiviral/antimicrobial drugs, effective immunotherapies (alpha-synuclein antibodies, vaccines for PD or parkinsonism, etc.), as well as new therapies will be developed and made available in the near future, which will help prevent a possible post-COVID-19 parkinsonism in the 21st century.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Zhang
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
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Wang X, Broce I, Deters KD, Fan CC, Banks SJ. Identification of Sex-Specific Genetic Variants Associated With Tau PET. Neurol Genet 2022; 8:e200043. [PMID: 36530928 PMCID: PMC9756308 DOI: 10.1212/nxg.0000000000200043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Background and Objectives Important sex differences exist in tau pathology along the Alzheimer disease (AD) continuum, with women showing enhanced tau deposition compared with men, especially during the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) phase. This study aims to identify specific genetic variants associated with sex differences in regional tau aggregation, as measured with PET. Methods Four hundred ninety-three participants (women, n = 246; men, n = 247) who self-identified as White from the AD Neuroimaging Initiative study, with genotyping data and 18F-Flortaucipir tau PET data, were included irrespective of clinical diagnosis (cognitively normal [CN], MCI, and AD). We focused on the genetic variants within 10 genes previously shown to have sex-dependent effects on AD to reduce the burden of multiple comparisons: BIN1, MS4A6A, DNAJA2, FERMT2, APOC1, APOC1P1, FAM193B, C2orf47, TYW5, and CR1. Multivariate analysis of variance was applied to identify genetic variants associated with tau PET data in 3 regions of interests (composite regions of Braak I, Braak III/IV, and Braak V/VI stages) in women and men separately. We controlled for age, scanner manufacture, amyloid status, APOE ε4 carriership, diagnosis (CN vs MCI vs AD), and the first 10 genetic principal components to adjust for population stratification. Results We identified 3 genetic loci within 3 different genes associated with tau deposits specifically in women: rs79711283 within DNAJA2, rs113357081 within FERMT2, and rs74614106 within TYW5. In men, we also identified 3 loci within CR1 associated with tau deposits: rs115096248, rs113698814, and rs78150633. Discussion Our findings revealed sex-specific genetic variants associated with tau deposition independent of APOE ε4, amyloid status, and clinical diagnosis. These results provide potential molecular targets for understanding the mechanism of sex-specific tau aggregation and developing sex-specific gene-guided precision prevention or therapeutic interventions for AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Department of Neurosciences (X.W., I.B., K.D.D., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California; and Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics (X.W., I.B., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Iris Broce
- Department of Neurosciences (X.W., I.B., K.D.D., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California; and Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics (X.W., I.B., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Kacie D Deters
- Department of Neurosciences (X.W., I.B., K.D.D., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California; and Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics (X.W., I.B., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Chun Chieh Fan
- Department of Neurosciences (X.W., I.B., K.D.D., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California; and Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics (X.W., I.B., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Sarah Jane Banks
- Department of Neurosciences (X.W., I.B., K.D.D., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California; and Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics (X.W., I.B., C.C.F., S.J.B.), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
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Steward A, Biel D, Brendel M, Dewenter A, Roemer S, Rubinski A, Luan Y, Dichgans M, Ewers M, Franzmeier N. Functional network segregation is associated with attenuated tau spreading in Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement 2022; 19:2034-2046. [PMID: 36433865 DOI: 10.1002/alz.12867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Lower network segregation is associated with accelerated cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet it is unclear whether less segregated brain networks facilitate connectivity-mediated tau spreading. METHODS We combined resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with longitudinal tau positron emission tomography (PET) in 42 betamyloid-negative controls and 81 amyloid beta positive individuals across the AD spectrum. Network segregation was determined using resting-state fMRI-assessed connectivity among 400 cortical regions belonging to seven networks. RESULTS AD subjects with higher network segregation exhibited slower brain-wide tau accumulation relative to their baseline entorhinal tau PET burden (typical onset site of tau pathology). Second, by identifying patient-specific tau epicenters with highest baseline tau PET we found that stronger epicenter segregation was associated with a slower rate of tau accumulation in the rest of the brain in relation to baseline epicenter tau burden. DISCUSSION Our results indicate that tau spreading is facilitated by a more diffusely organized connectome, suggesting that brain network topology modulates tau spreading in AD. HIGHLIGHTS Higher brain network segregation is associated with attenuated tau pathology accumulation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). A patient-tailored approach allows for the more precise localization of tau epicenters. The functional segregation of subject-specific tau epicenters predicts the rate of future tau accumulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Steward
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
| | - Davina Biel
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
| | - Matthias Brendel
- Department of Nuclear Medicine University Hospital LMU Munich Munich Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Munich Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) Munich Germany
| | - Anna Dewenter
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
| | - Sebastian Roemer
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
- Department of Neurology University Hospital LMU Munich Munich Germany
| | - Anna Rubinski
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
| | - Ying Luan
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
| | - Martin Dichgans
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Munich Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) Munich Germany
| | - Michael Ewers
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Munich Germany
| | - Nicolai Franzmeier
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) University Hospital LMU Munich Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) Munich Germany
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Biel D, Luan Y, Brendel M, Hager P, Dewenter A, Moscoso A, Otero Svaldi D, Higgins IA, Pontecorvo M, Römer S, Steward A, Rubinski A, Zheng L, Schöll M, Shcherbinin S, Ewers M, Franzmeier N. Combining tau-PET and fMRI meta-analyses for patient-centered prediction of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Res Ther 2022; 14:166. [PMID: 36345046 PMCID: PMC9639286 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-022-01105-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Background Tau-PET is a prognostic marker for cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, and the heterogeneity of tau-PET patterns matches cognitive symptom heterogeneity. Thus, tau-PET may allow precision-medicine prediction of individual tau-related cognitive trajectories, which can be important for determining patient-specific cognitive endpoints in clinical trials. Here, we aimed to examine whether tau-PET in cognitive-domain-specific brain regions, identified via fMRI meta-analyses, allows the prediction of domain-specific cognitive decline. Further, we aimed to determine whether tau-PET-informed personalized cognitive composites capture patient-specific cognitive trajectories more sensitively than conventional cognitive measures. Methods We included Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) participants classified as controls (i.e., amyloid-negative, cognitively normal, n = 121) or Alzheimer’s disease-spectrum (i.e., amyloid-positive, cognitively normal to dementia, n = 140), plus 111 AVID-1451-A05 participants for independent validation (controls/Alzheimer’s disease-spectrum=46/65). All participants underwent baseline 18F-flortaucipir tau-PET, amyloid-PET, and longitudinal cognitive testing to assess annual cognitive changes (i.e., episodic memory, language, executive functioning, visuospatial). Cognitive changes were calculated using linear mixed models. Independent meta-analytical task-fMRI activation maps for each included cognitive domain were obtained from the Neurosynth database and applied to tau-PET to determine tau-PET signal in cognitive-domain-specific brain regions. In bootstrapped linear regression, we assessed the strength of the relationship (i.e., partial R2) between cognitive-domain-specific tau-PET vs. global or temporal-lobe tau-PET and cognitive changes. Further, we used tau-PET-based prediction of domain-specific decline to compose personalized cognitive composites that were tailored to capture patient-specific cognitive decline. Results In both amyloid-positive cohorts (ADNI [age = 75.99±7.69] and A05 [age = 74.03±9.03]), cognitive-domain-specific tau-PET outperformed global and temporal-lobe tau-PET for predicting future cognitive decline in episodic memory, language, executive functioning, and visuospatial abilities. Further, a tau-PET-informed personalized cognitive composite across cognitive domains enhanced the sensitivity to assess cognitive decline in amyloid-positive subjects, yielding lower sample sizes required for detecting simulated intervention effects compared to conventional cognitive endpoints (i.e., memory composite, global cognitive composite). However, the latter effect was less strong in A05 compared to the ADNI cohort. Conclusion Combining tau-PET with task-fMRI-derived maps of major cognitive domains facilitates the prediction of domain-specific cognitive decline. This approach may help to increase the sensitivity to detect Alzheimer’s disease-related cognitive decline and to determine personalized cognitive endpoints in clinical trials. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13195-022-01105-5.
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López-González FJ, Costoya-Sánchez A, Paredes-Pacheco J, Moscoso A, Silva-Rodríguez J, Aguiar P. Impact of spill-in counts from off-target regions on [ 18F]Flortaucipir PET quantification. Neuroimage 2022; 259:119396. [PMID: 35753593 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND [18F]Flortaucipir (FTP) PET quantification is usually hindered by spill-in counts from off-target binding (OFF) regions. The present work aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the impact of OFF in FTP PET quantification, as well as to identify optimal partial volume correction (PVC) strategies to minimize this problem. METHODS 309 amyloid-beta (Aβ) negative cognitively normal subjects were included in the study. Additionally, 510 realistic FTP images with different levels of OFF were generated using Monte Carlo simulation (MC). Images were corrected for PVC using both a simple two-compartment and a multi-region method including OFF regions. FTP standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) was quantified in Braak Areas (BA), the hippocampus (which was not included in Braak I/II) and different OFF regions (caudate, putamen, pallidum, thalamus, choroid plexus (ChPlex), cerebellar white matter (cerebWM), hemispheric white matter (hemisWM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)) using the lower portion of the cerebellum as a reference region. The correlations between OFF and cortical SUVRs were studied both in real and in simulated PET images, with and without PVC. RESULTS In-vivo, we found correlations between all OFF and target regions, especially strong for the hemisWM (slope>0.63, R2>0.4). All the correlations were attenuated but remained significant after applying PVC, except for the ChPlex. In MC simulations, the hemisWM and CSF were the main contributors to PVE in all BA (slopes 0.15-0.26 and 0.13-0.21 respectively). The hemisWM (slope=0.2), as well as the ChPlex (slope=0.02), influenced SUVRs in the hippocampus. The CerebWM was negatively correlated with all target regions (slope<-0.02, R2>0.8). While no other correlations between OFF and target regions were found, hemisWM was correlated with all OFF regions but the cerebWM (slopes 0.06-0.33). HemisWM correlations attenuated (slopes<0.06) when applying two-compartment PVC, but the hippocampus-ChPlex and the cerebWM correlations required more complex PVC with dedicated compartments for these regions. In-vivo, PVC removed a notably higher fraction of the correlation between OFF regions found to be affected by PVE in the simulation studies and BA (≈50%) than for OFF regions not affected by PVE (16%). CONCLUSION HemisWM is the main driver of spill-in effects in FTP PET, affecting both target regions and the rest of OFF regions. PVC successfully reduces PVE, even when using a simple two-compartment method. Despite PVC, non-zero correlations were still observed between target and OFF regions in vivo, which suggests the existence of biological or tracer-related contributions to these correlations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco J López-González
- Molecular Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Campus Vida, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; Molecular Imaging Unit (UIM), Centro de Investigaciones Médico-Sanitarias (CIMES), General Foundation of the University of Málaga (Fguma), Málaga, Spain
| | - Alejandro Costoya-Sánchez
- Molecular Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Campus Vida, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; Nuclear Medicine Department and Molecular Imaging Group, University Hospital CHUS-IDIS, Travesía da Choupana s/n, Santiago de Compostela, 15706, Spain
| | - José Paredes-Pacheco
- Molecular Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Campus Vida, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; Molecular Imaging Unit (UIM), Centro de Investigaciones Médico-Sanitarias (CIMES), General Foundation of the University of Málaga (Fguma), Málaga, Spain
| | - Alexis Moscoso
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, and The Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Jesús Silva-Rodríguez
- Nuclear Medicine Department and Molecular Imaging Group, University Hospital CHUS-IDIS, Travesía da Choupana s/n, Santiago de Compostela, 15706, Spain; Movement Disorders Unit, Clinical Neurology and Neurophysiology Department, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital/CSIC/University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
| | - Pablo Aguiar
- Molecular Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Campus Vida, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain; Nuclear Medicine Department and Molecular Imaging Group, University Hospital CHUS-IDIS, Travesía da Choupana s/n, Santiago de Compostela, 15706, Spain
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Rubinski A, Franzmeier N, Dewenter A, Luan Y, Smith R, Strandberg O, Ossenkoppele R, Dichgans M, Hansson O, Ewers M. Higher levels of myelin are associated with higher resistance against tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Res Ther 2022; 14:139. [PMID: 36153607 PMCID: PMC9508747 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-022-01074-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Background In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), fibrillar tau initially occurs locally and progresses preferentially between closely connected regions. However, the underlying sources of regional vulnerability to tau pathology remain unclear. Previous brain-autopsy findings suggest that the myelin levels—which differ substantially between white matter tracts in the brain—are a key modulating factor of region-specific susceptibility to tau deposition. Here, we investigated whether myelination differences between fiber tracts of the human connectome are predictive of the interregional spreading of tau pathology in AD. Methods We included two independently recruited samples consisting of amyloid-PET-positive asymptomatic and symptomatic elderly individuals, in whom tau-PET was obtained at baseline (ADNI: n = 275; BioFINDER-1: n = 102) and longitudinally in a subset (ADNI: n = 123, mean FU = 1.53 [0.69–3.95] years; BioFINDER-1: n = 39, mean FU = 1.87 [1.21–2.78] years). We constructed MRI templates of the myelin water fraction (MWF) in 200 gray matter ROIs and connecting fiber tracts obtained from adult cognitively normal participants. Using the same 200 ROI brain-parcellation atlas, we obtained tau-PET ROI values from each individual in ADNI and BioFINDER-1. In a spatial regression analysis, we first tested the association between cortical myelin and group-average tau-PET signal in the amyloid-positive and control groups. Secondly, employing a previously established approach of modeling tau-PET spreading based on functional connectivity between ROIs, we estimated in a linear regression analysis, whether the level of fiber-tract myelin modulates the association between functional connectivity and longitudinal tau-PET spreading (i.e., covariance) between ROIs. Results We found that higher myelinated cortical regions show lower tau-PET uptake (ADNI: rho = − 0.267, p < 0.001; BioFINDER-1: rho = − 0.175, p = 0.013). Fiber-tract myelin levels modulated the association between functional connectivity and tau-PET spreading, such that at higher levels of fiber-tract myelin, the association between stronger connectivity and higher covariance of tau-PET between the connected ROIs was attenuated (interaction fiber-tract myelin × functional connectivity: ADNI: β = − 0.185, p < 0.001; BioFINDER-1: β = − 0.166, p < 0.001). Conclusion Higher levels of myelin are associated with lower susceptibility of the connected regions to accumulate fibrillar tau. These results enhance our understanding of brain substrates that explain regional variation in tau accumulation and encourage future studies to investigate potential underlying mechanisms. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13195-022-01074-9.
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Frontzkowski L, Ewers M, Brendel M, Biel D, Ossenkoppele R, Hager P, Steward A, Dewenter A, Römer S, Rubinski A, Buerger K, Janowitz D, Binette AP, Smith R, Strandberg O, Carlgren NM, Dichgans M, Hansson O, Franzmeier N. Earlier Alzheimer’s disease onset is associated with tau pathology in brain hub regions and facilitated tau spreading. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4899. [PMID: 35987901 PMCID: PMC9392750 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32592-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractIn Alzheimer’s disease (AD), younger symptom onset is associated with accelerated disease progression and tau spreading, yet the mechanisms underlying faster disease manifestation are unknown. To address this, we combined resting-state fMRI and longitudinal tau-PET in two independent samples of controls and biomarker-confirmed AD patients (ADNI/BioFINDER, n = 240/57). Consistent across both samples, we found that younger symptomatic AD patients showed stronger tau-PET in globally connected fronto-parietal hubs, i.e., regions that are critical for maintaining cognition in AD. Stronger tau-PET in hubs predicted faster subsequent tau accumulation, suggesting that tau in globally connected regions facilitates connectivity-mediated tau spreading. Further, stronger tau-PET in hubs mediated the association between younger age and faster tau accumulation in symptomatic AD patients, which predicted faster cognitive decline. These independently validated findings suggest that younger AD symptom onset is associated with stronger tau pathology in brain hubs, and accelerated tau spreading throughout connected brain regions and cognitive decline.
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Dewenter A, Jacob MA, Cai M, Gesierich B, Hager P, Kopczak A, Biel D, Ewers M, Tuladhar AM, de Leeuw FE, Dichgans M, Franzmeier N, Duering M. Disentangling the effects of Alzheimer's and small vessel disease on white matter fibre tracts. Brain 2022; 146:678-689. [PMID: 35859352 PMCID: PMC9924910 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awac265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease and cerebral small vessel disease are the two leading causes of cognitive decline and dementia and coexist in most memory clinic patients. White matter damage as assessed by diffusion MRI is a key feature in both Alzheimer's and cerebral small vessel disease. However, disease-specific biomarkers of white matter alterations are missing. Recent advances in diffusion MRI operating on the fixel level (fibre population within a voxel) promise to advance our understanding of disease-related white matter alterations. Fixel-based analysis allows derivation of measures of both white matter microstructure, measured by fibre density, and macrostructure, measured by fibre-bundle cross-section. Here, we evaluated the capacity of these state-of-the-art fixel metrics to disentangle the effects of cerebral small vessel disease and Alzheimer's disease on white matter integrity. We included three independent samples (total n = 387) covering genetically defined cerebral small vessel disease and age-matched controls, the full spectrum of biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease including amyloid- and tau-PET negative controls and a validation sample with presumed mixed pathology. In this cross-sectional analysis, we performed group comparisons between patients and controls and assessed associations between fixel metrics within main white matter tracts and imaging hallmarks of cerebral small vessel disease (white matter hyperintensity volume, lacune and cerebral microbleed count) and Alzheimer's disease (amyloid- and tau-PET), age and a measure of neurodegeneration (brain volume). Our results showed that (i) fibre density was reduced in genetically defined cerebral small vessel disease and strongly associated with cerebral small vessel disease imaging hallmarks; (ii) fibre-bundle cross-section was mainly associated with brain volume; and (iii) both fibre density and fibre-bundle cross-section were reduced in the presence of amyloid, but not further exacerbated by abnormal tau deposition. Fixel metrics were only weakly associated with amyloid- and tau-PET. Taken together, our results in three independent samples suggest that fibre density captures the effect of cerebral small vessel disease, while fibre-bundle cross-section is largely determined by neurodegeneration. The ability of fixel-based imaging markers to capture distinct effects on white matter integrity can propel future applications in the context of precision medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Dewenter
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - Mina A Jacob
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Mengfei Cai
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Benno Gesierich
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
- Medical Image Analysis Center (MIAC) and Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Paul Hager
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
- Institute for AI and Informatics in Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna Kopczak
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - Davina Biel
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - Michael Ewers
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE), Munich, Germany
| | - Anil M Tuladhar
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Frank-Erik de Leeuw
- Department of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin Dichgans
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE), Munich, Germany
- Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany
| | | | - Marco Duering
- Correspondence to: Marco Duering Medical Image Analysis Center (MIAC AG) Marktgasse 8 CH-4051 Basel Switzerland E-mail:
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Huda TI, Diaz MJ, Gozlan EC, Chobrutskiy A, Chobrutskiy BI, Blanck G. Immunogenomics Parameters for Patient Stratification in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2022; 88:619-629. [PMID: 35662120 DOI: 10.3233/jad-220119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite the fact that only modest adaptive immune system related approaches to treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) are available, an immunogenomics approach to the study of AD has not yet substantially advanced. OBJECTIVE Thus, we sought to better understand adaptive immune receptor chemical features in the AD setting. METHODS We characterized T-cell receptor alpha (TRA) complementarity determining region-3 (CDR3) physicochemical features and identified TRA CDR3 homology groups, represented by TRA recombination reads extracted from 2,665 AD-related, blood- and brain-derived exome files. RESULTS We found that a higher isoelectric value for the brain TRA CDR3s was associated with a higher (clinically worse) Braak stage and that a number of TRA CDR3 chemical homology groups, in particular representing bloodborne TRA CDR3s, were associated with higher or lower Braak stages. Lastly, greater chemical complementarity of both blood- and brain-derived TRA CDR3s and tau, based on a recently described CDR3-candidate antigen chemical complementarity scoring process (https://adaptivematch.com), was associated with higher Braak stages. CONCLUSION Overall, the data reported here raise the questions of (a) whether progression of AD is facilitated by the adaptive immune response to tau; and (b) whether assessment of such an anti-tau immune response could potentially serve as a basis for adaptive immune receptor related, AD risk stratification?
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Affiliation(s)
- Taha I Huda
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Michael J Diaz
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Etienne C Gozlan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Andrea Chobrutskiy
- Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Boris I Chobrutskiy
- Department of Internal Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, Portland, OR, USA
| | - George Blanck
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.,Department of Immunology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
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Groot C, Villeneuve S, Smith R, Hansson O, Ossenkoppele R. Tau PET Imaging in Neurodegenerative Disorders. J Nucl Med 2022; 63:20S-26S. [PMID: 35649647 DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.121.263196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The advent of PET ligands that bind tau pathology has enabled the quantification and visualization of tau pathology in aging and in Alzheimer disease (AD). There is strong evidence from neuropathologic studies that the most widely used tau PET tracers (i.e., 18F-flortaucipir, 18F-MK6240, 18F-RO948, and 18F-PI2620) bind tau aggregates formed in AD in the more advanced (i.e., ≥IV) Braak stages. However, tracer binding in most non-AD tauopathies is weaker and overlaps to a large extent with known off-target binding regions, limiting the quantification and visualization of non-AD tau pathology in vivo. Off-target binding is generally present in the substantia nigra, basal ganglia, pituitary, choroid plexus, longitudinal sinuses, meninges, or skull in a tracer-specific manner. Most cross-sectional studies use the inferior aspect of the cerebellar gray matter as a reference region, whereas for longitudinal analyses, an eroded white matter reference region is sometimes selected. No consensus has yet been reached on whether to use partial-volume correction of tau PET data. Although an increased neocortical tau PET signal is rare in cognitively unimpaired individuals, even in amyloid-β-positive cases, such a signal holds important prognostic information because preliminary data suggest that an elevated tau PET signal predicts cognitive decline over time. Also, in symptomatic stages of AD (i.e., mild cognitive impairment or AD dementia), tau PET shows great potential as a prognostic marker because an elevated baseline tau PET retention forecasts future cognitive decline and brain atrophy. For differential diagnostic use, the primary utility of tau PET is to differentiate AD dementia from other neurodegenerative diseases, as is in line with the conditions for the approval of 18F-flortaucipir by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical use. The differential diagnostic performance drops substantially at the mild-cognitive-impairment stage of AD, and there is no sufficient evidence for detection of sporadic non-AD primary tauopathies at the individual level for any of the currently available tau PET tracers. In conclusion, while the field is currently addressing outstanding methodologic issues, tau PET is gradually moving toward clinical application as a diagnostic and possibly prognostic marker in dementia expert centers and as a tool for selecting participants, assessing target engagement, and monitoring treatment effects in clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Groot
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sylvia Villeneuve
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.,Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Canada.,McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Canada; and
| | - Ruben Smith
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; .,Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Gómez-Isla T, Frosch MP. Lesions without symptoms: understanding resilience to Alzheimer disease neuropathological changes. Nat Rev Neurol 2022; 18:323-332. [PMID: 35332316 PMCID: PMC10607925 DOI: 10.1038/s41582-022-00642-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Since the original description of amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles more than 100 years ago, these lesions have been considered the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer disease (AD). The prevalence of plaques, tangles and dementia increases with age, and the lesions are considered to be causally related to the cognitive symptoms of AD. Current schemes for assessing AD lesion burden examine the distribution, abundance and characteristics of plaques and tangles at post mortem, yielding an estimate of the likelihood of cognitive impairment. Although this approach is highly predictive for most individuals, in some instances, a striking mismatch between lesions and symptoms can be observed. A small subset of individuals harbour a high burden of plaques and tangles at autopsy, which would be expected to have had devastating clinical consequences, but remain at their cognitive baseline, indicating 'resilience'. The study of these brains might provide the key to understanding the 'black box' between the accumulation of plaques and tangles and cognitive impairment, and show the way towards disease-modifying treatments for AD. In this Review, we begin by considering the heterogeneity of clinical manifestations associated with the presence of plaques and tangles, and then focus on insights derived from the rare yet informative individuals who display high amounts of amyloid and tau deposition in their brains (observed directly at autopsy) without manifesting dementia during life. The resilient response of these individuals to the gradual accumulation of plaques and tangles has potential implications for assessing an individual's risk of AD and for the development of interventions aimed at preserving cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Gómez-Isla
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Matthew P Frosch
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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Taddei RN, Sanchez-Mico MV, Bonnar O, Connors T, Gaona A, Denbow D, Frosch MP, Gómez-Isla T. Changes in glial cell phenotypes precede overt neurofibrillary tangle formation, correlate with markers of cortical cell damage, and predict cognitive status of individuals at Braak III-IV stages. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2022; 10:72. [PMID: 35534858 PMCID: PMC9082857 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-022-01370-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Clinico-pathological correlation studies show that some otherwise healthy elderly individuals who never developed cognitive impairment harbor a burden of Alzheimer's disease lesions (plaques and tangles) that would be expected to result in dementia. In the absence of comorbidities explaining such discrepancies, there is a need to identify other brain changes that meaningfully contribute to the cognitive status of an individual in the face of such burdens of plaques and tangles. Glial inflammatory responses, a universal phenomenon in symptomatic AD, show robust association with degree of cognitive impairment, but their significance in early tau pathology stages and contribution to the trajectory of cognitive decline at an individual level remain widely unexplored. We studied 55 brains from individuals at intermediate stages of tau tangle pathology (Braak III-IV) with diverging antemortem cognition (demented vs. non-demented, here termed `resilient'), and age-matched cognitively normal controls (Braak 0-II). We conducted quantitative assessments of amyloid and tau lesions, cellular vulnerability markers, and glial phenotypes in temporal pole (Braak III-IV region) and visual cortex (Braak V-VI region) using artificial-intelligence based semiautomated quantifications. We found distinct glial responses with increased proinflammatory and decreased homeostatic markers, both in regions with tau tangles (temporal pole) and without overt tau deposits (visual cortex) in demented but not in resilient. These changes were significantly associated with markers of cortical cell damage. Similar phenotypic glial changes were detected in the white matter of demented but not resilient and were associated with higher burden of overlying cortical cellular damage in regions with and without tangles. Our data suggest that changes in glial phenotypes in cortical and subcortical regions represent an early phenomenon that precedes overt tau deposition and likely contributes to cell damage and loss of brain function predicting the cognitive status of individuals at intermediate stages of tau aggregate burden (Braak III-IV).
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel N Taddei
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15th Parkman St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Dementia Research Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Maria V Sanchez-Mico
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15th Parkman St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Orla Bonnar
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15th Parkman St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Theresa Connors
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Angelica Gaona
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Dominique Denbow
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15th Parkman St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA
| | - Matthew P Frosch
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Teresa Gómez-Isla
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15th Parkman St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
- Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Boston, MA, USA.
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Lagarde J, Olivieri P, Tonietto M, Tissot C, Rivals I, Gervais P, Caillé F, Moussion M, Bottlaender M, Sarazin M. Tau-PET imaging predicts cognitive decline and brain atrophy progression in early Alzheimer's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2022; 93:459-467. [PMID: 35228270 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2021-328623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To explore whether regional tau binding measured at baseline is associated with the rapidity of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression over 2 years, as assessed by the decline in specified cognitive domains, and the progression of regional brain atrophy, in comparison with amyloid-positron emission tomography (PET), MRI and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. METHODS Thirty-six patients with AD (positive CSF biomarkers and amyloid-PET) and 15 controls underwent a complete neuropsychological assessment, 3T brain MRI, [11C]-PiB and [18F]-flortaucipir PET imaging, and were monitored annually over 2 years, with a second brain MRI after 2 years. We used mixed effects models to explore the relations between tau-PET, amyloid-PET, CSF biomarkers and MRI at baseline and cognitive decline and the progression of brain atrophy over 2 years in patients with AD. RESULTS Baseline tau-PET was strongly associated with the subsequent cognitive decline in regions that are usually associated with each cognitive domain. No significant relationship was observed between the cognitive decline and initial amyloid load, regional cortical atrophy or CSF biomarkers. Baseline tau tracer binding in the superior temporal gyrus was associated with subsequent atrophy in an inferomedial temporal volume of interest, as was the voxelwise tau tracer binding with subsequent cortical atrophy in the superior temporal, parietal and frontal association cortices. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that tau tracer binding is predictive of cognitive decline in AD in domain-specific brain areas, which provides important insights into the interaction between tau burden and neurodegeneration, and is of the utmost importance to develop new prognostic markers that will help improve the design of therapeutic trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Lagarde
- Department of Neurology of Memory and Language, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France .,Université de Paris, Paris, France.,Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
| | - Pauline Olivieri
- Department of Neurology of Memory and Language, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.,Université de Paris, Paris, France.,Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
| | - Matteo Tonietto
- Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
| | - Cecile Tissot
- McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Isabelle Rivals
- Equipe de Statistique Appliquée, ESPCI Paris, PSL Research University, INSERM, UMRS 1158 Neurophysiologie Respiratoire Expérimentale et Clinique, 10 rue Vauquelin, Paris, France
| | - Philippe Gervais
- Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
| | - Fabien Caillé
- Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
| | - Martin Moussion
- Department of Neurology of Memory and Language, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.,Centre d'évaluation Troubles Psychiques et Vieillissement, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France
| | - Michel Bottlaender
- Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France.,Université Paris-Saclay, UNIACT, Neurospin, Joliot Institute, CEA, Gif sur Yvette, France
| | - Marie Sarazin
- Department of Neurology of Memory and Language, GHU Paris Psychiatrie & Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France.,Université de Paris, Paris, France.,Université Paris-Saclay, BioMaps, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot CEA, CNRS, Inserm, Orsay, France
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50
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Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease in the Current State: A Narrative Review. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23094962. [PMID: 35563350 PMCID: PMC9102515 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23094962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 04/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has become a problem, owing to its high prevalence in an aging society with no treatment available after onset. However, early diagnosis is essential for preventive intervention to delay disease onset due to its slow progression. The current AD diagnostic methods are typically invasive and expensive, limiting their potential for widespread use. Thus, the development of biomarkers in available biofluids, such as blood, urine, and saliva, which enables low or non-invasive, reasonable, and objective evaluation of AD status, is an urgent task. Here, we reviewed studies that examined biomarker candidates for the early detection of AD. Some of the candidates showed potential biomarkers, but further validation studies are needed. We also reviewed studies for non-invasive biomarkers of AD. Given the complexity of the AD continuum, multiple biomarkers with machine-learning-classification methods have been recently used to enhance diagnostic accuracy and characterize individual AD phenotypes. Artificial intelligence and new body fluid-based biomarkers, in combination with other risk factors, will provide a novel solution that may revolutionize the early diagnosis of AD.
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