Associations Between Amyloid and Tau Pathology, and Connectome Alterations, in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Josh King-Robson ◽  
Heather Wilson ◽  
Marios Politis ◽  

Background: The roles of amyloid-β and tau in the degenerative process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remain uncertain. [18F]AV-45 and [18F]AV-1451 PET quantify amyloid-β and tau pathology, respectively, while diffusion tractography enables detection of their microstructural consequences. Objective: Examine the impact of amyloid-β and tau pathology on the structural connectome and cognition, in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. Methods: Combined [18F]AV-45 and [18F]AV-1451 PET, diffusion tractography, and cognitive assessment in 28 controls, 32 MCI, and 26 AD patients. Results: Hippocampal connectivity was reduced to the thalami, right lateral orbitofrontal, and right amygdala in MCI; alongside the insula, posterior cingulate, right entorhinal, and numerous cortical regions in AD (all p <  0.05). Hippocampal strength inversely correlated with [18F]AV-1451 SUVr in MCI (r = –0.55, p = 0.049) and AD (r = –0.57, p = 0.046), while reductions in hippocampal connectivity to ipsilateral brain regions correlated with increased [18F]AV-45 SUVr in those same regions in MCI (r = –0.33, p = 0.003) and AD (r = –0.31, p = 0.006). Cognitive scores correlated with connectivity of the right temporal pole in MCI (r = –0.60, p = 0.035) and left hippocampus in AD (r = 0.69, p = 0.024). Clinical Dementia Rating Scale scores correlated with [18F]AV-1451 SUVr in multiple areas reflecting Braak stages I-IV, including the right (r = 0.65, p = 0.004) entorhinal cortex in MCI; and Braak stages III-VI, including the right (r = 0.062, p = 0.009) parahippocampal gyrus in AD. Conclusion: Reductions in hippocampal connectivity predominate in the AD connectome, correlating with hippocampal tau in MCI and AD, and with amyloid-β in the target regions of those connections. Cognitive scores correlate with microstructural changes and reflect the accumulation of tau pathology.

2021 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 472-480
Author(s):  
Yulin Luo ◽  
Li Tan ◽  
Joseph Therriault ◽  
Hua Zhang ◽  
Ying Gao ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Apolipoprotein E (<i>APOE</i>) ε4 is highly associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the specific influence of <i>APOE</i> ε4 status on tau pathology and cognitive decline in early MCI (EMCI) and late MCI (LMCI) is poorly understood. Our goal was to evaluate the association of <i>APOE</i> ε4 with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau levels and cognition in EMCI and LMCI patients in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database, and whether this association was mediated by amyloid-β (Aβ). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Participants were 269 cognitively normal (CN), 262 EMCI, and 344 LMCI patients. They underwent CSF Aβ42 and tau detection, <i>APOE</i> ε4 genotyping, Mini-Mental State Examination, (MMSE), and Alzheimer’s disease assessment scale (ADAS)-cog assessments. Linear regressions were used to examine the relation of <i>APOE</i> ε4 and CSF tau levels and cognitive scores in persons with and without Aβ deposition (Aβ+ and Aβ−). <b><i>Results:</i></b> The prevalence of <i>APOE</i> ε4 is higher in EMCI and LMCI than in CN (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001 for both), and in LMCI than in EMCI (<i>p</i> = 0.001). <i>APOE</i> ε4 allele was significantly higher in Aβ+ subjects than in Aβ− subjects (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). Subjects who had a lower CSF Aβ42 level and were <i>APOE</i> ε4-positive experienced higher levels of CSF tau and cognitive scores in EMCI and/or LMCI. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> An <i>APOE</i> ε4 allele is associated with increased CSF tau and worse cognition in both EMCI and LMCI, and this association may be mediated by Aβ. We conclude that <i>APOE</i> ε4 may be an important mediator of tau pathology and cognition in the early stages of AD.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Bayard ◽  
Jean-Pierre Jacus ◽  
Stéphane Raffard ◽  
Marie-Christine Gely-Nargeot

Background. Apathy and reduced emotion-based decision-making are two behavioral modifications independently described in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).Objectives. The aims of this study were to investigate decision-making based on emotional feedback processing in AD and aMCI and to study the impact of reduced decision-making performances on apathy.Methods. We recruited 20 patients with AD, 20 participants with aMCI, and 20 healthy controls. All participants completed the Lille apathy rating scale (LARS) and the Iowa gambling task (IGT).Results. Both aMCI and AD participants had reduced performances on the IGT and were more apathetic compared to controls without any difference between aMCI and AD groups. For the entire sample, LARS initiation dimension was related to IGT disadvantageous decision-making profile.Conclusions. We provide the first study showing that both aMCI and AD individuals make less profitable decisions than controls, whereas aMCI and AD did not differ. Disadvantageous decision-making profile on the IGT was associated with higher level of apathy on the action initiation dimension. The role of an abnormal IGT performance as a risk factor for the development of apathy needs to be investigated in other clinical populations and in normal aging.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yi-Wen Bao ◽  
Anson C.M. Chau ◽  
Patrick Ka-Chun Chiu ◽  
Yat Fung Shea ◽  
Joseph S.K. Kwan ◽  
...  

Background: With the more widespread use of 18F-radioligand-based amyloid-β (Aβ) PET-CT imaging, we evaluated Aβ binding and the utility of neocortical 18F-Flutemetamol standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) as a biomarker. Objective: 18F-Flutemetamol SUVR was used to differentiate 1) mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and 2) MCI from other non-AD dementias (OD). Methods: 109 patients consecutively recruited from a University memory clinic underwent clinical evaluation, neuropsychological test, MRI and 18F-Flutemetamol PET-CT. The diagnosis was made by consensus of a panel consisting of 1 neuroradiologist and 2 geriatricians. The final cohort included 13 subjective cognitive decline (SCD), 22 AD, 39 MCI, and 35 OD. Quantitative analysis of 16 region-of-interests made by Cortex ID software (GE Healthcare). Results: The global mean 18F-Flutemetamol SUVR in SCD, MCI, AD, and OD were 0.50 (SD-0.08), 0.53 (SD-0.16), 0.76 (SD-0.10), and 0.56 (SD-0.16), respectively, with SUVR in SCD and MCI and OD being significantly lower than AD. Aβ binding in SCD, MCI, and OD was heterogeneous, being 23%, 38.5%, and 42.9% respectively, as compared to 100% amyloid positivity in AD. Using global SUVR, ROC analysis showed AUC of 0.868 and 0.588 in differentiating MCI from AD and MCI from OD respectively. Conclusion: 18F-Flutemetamol SUVR differentiated MCI from AD with high efficacy (high negative predictive value), but much lower efficacy from OD. The major benefit of the test was to differentiate cognitively impaired patients (either SCD, MCI, or OD) without AD-related-amyloid-pathology from AD in the clinical setting, which was under-emphasized in the current guidelines proposed by Amyloid Imaging Task Force.


Brain ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
pp. 1550-1561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Mattsson ◽  
Duygu Tosun ◽  
Philip S. Insel ◽  
Alix Simonson ◽  
Clifford R Jack ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guixia Kang ◽  
Peiqi Luo ◽  
Xin Xu ◽  
Ying Han ◽  
Xuemei Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: To assess the progression of volume changes in hippocampus and its subfields of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to explore the association of the hippocampus and its subfields volumes with cognitive function.Methods: Five groups of participants including 35 normal controls (NC) persons, 30 MCI patients, 30 Mild AD patients, 30 Moderate AD patients and 8 Severe AD patients received structural MRI brain scans. Freesurfer6.0 was used for automatically segmentation of MRI, and the left and right hippocampus were respectively divided into 12 subfields. By statistical analysis, the volumes of hippocampus and its subfields were compared between the five groups, and the correlation of the volumes with Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) score was analyzed.Result & Conclusion: In the disease, each hippocampal subfield shows an uneven atrophy trajectory; The volumes of the subiculum and presubiculum are significantly different between Mild AD and MCI, which can contribute to the early diagnosis of AD; Parasubiculum is the least sensitive subfield for volume atrophy of AD, while subiculum, presubiculum, CA1, molecular_layer_HP and fimbria show much more significant volume changes. Meanwhile the volumes of these five subfields are positively correlated with MMSE, which may help in stage division of AD; Compared with the right hippocampus, the volume atrophy on the left side is more significantly, and the volumes are more significantly correlated with MMSE, So the left hippocampus and its subfields may provide a higher reference value for the clinical evaluation of AD than the right side.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (474) ◽  
pp. eaau6550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan P. Lucey ◽  
Austin McCullough ◽  
Eric C. Landsness ◽  
Cristina D. Toedebusch ◽  
Jennifer S. McLeland ◽  
...  

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), deposition of insoluble amyloid-β (Aβ) is followed by intracellular aggregation of tau in the neocortex and subsequent neuronal cell loss, synaptic loss, brain atrophy, and cognitive impairment. By the time even the earliest clinical symptoms are detectable, Aβ accumulation is close to reaching its peak and neocortical tau pathology is frequently already present. The period in which AD pathology is accumulating in the absence of cognitive symptoms represents a clinically relevant time window for therapeutic intervention. Sleep is increasingly recognized as a potential marker for AD pathology and future risk of cognitive impairment. Previous studies in animal models and humans have associated decreased non–rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep slow wave activity (SWA) with Aβ deposition. In this study, we analyzed cognitive performance, brain imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers in participants enrolled in longitudinal studies of aging. In addition, we monitored their sleep using a single-channel electroencephalography (EEG) device worn on the forehead. After adjusting for multiple covariates such as age and sex, we found that NREM SWA showed an inverse relationship with AD pathology, particularly tauopathy, and that this association was most evident at the lowest frequencies of NREM SWA. Given that our study participants were predominantly cognitively normal, this suggested that changes in NREM SWA, especially at 1 to 2 Hz, might be able to discriminate tau pathology and cognitive impairment either before or at the earliest stages of symptomatic AD.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (s3) ◽  
pp. S91-S98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdena Kristofikova ◽  
Jan Ricny ◽  
Michaela Kolarova ◽  
Martin Vyhnalek ◽  
Jakub Hort ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 573-585
Author(s):  
Hyemin Jang ◽  
Hee Jin Kim ◽  
Yeong Sim Choe ◽  
Soo-Jong Kim ◽  
Seongbeom Park ◽  
...  

Background: As Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) commonly coexist, the interaction between two has been of the considerable interest. Objective: We determined whether the association of Aβ and tau with cognitive decline differs by the presence of significant CSVD. Methods: We included 60 subcortical vascular cognitive impairment (SVCI) from Samsung Medical Center and 82 Alzheimer’s disease-related cognitive impairment (ADCI) from ADNI, who underwent Aβ (florbetaben or florbetapir) and tau (flortaucipir, FTP) PET imaging. They were retrospectively assessed for 5.0±3.9 and 5.6±1.9 years with Clinical Dementia Rating-sum of boxes (CDR-SB)/Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Mixed effects models were used to investigate the interaction between Aβ/tau and group on CDR-SB/MMSE changes. Results: The frequency of Aβ positivity (45% versus 54.9%, p = 0.556) and mean global FTP SUVR (1.17±0.21 versus 1.16±0.17, p = 0.702) were not different between the two groups. We found a significant interaction effect of Aβ positivity and SVCI group on CDR-SB increase/MMSE decrease (p = 0.013/p < 0.001), and a significant interaction effect of global FTP uptake and SVCI group on CDR-SB increase/MMSE decrease (p < 0.001 and p = 0.030). Finally, the interaction effects of regional tau and group were prominent in the Braak III/IV (p = 0.001) and V/VI (p = 0.003) not in Braak I/II region (p = 0.398). Conclusion: The association between Aβ/tau and cognitive decline is stronger in SVCI than in ADCI. Therefore, our findings suggested that Aβ positivity or tau burden (particularly in the Braak III/IV or V/VI regions) and CSVD might synergistically affect cognitive decline.


Brain ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (11) ◽  
pp. 3234-3241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren ◽  
Shorena Janelidze ◽  
Sebastian Palmqvist ◽  
Nicholas Cullen ◽  
Anna L Svenningsson ◽  
...  

Abstract Plasma levels of tau phosphorylated at threonine-217 (p-tau217) is a candidate tool to monitor Alzheimer’s disease. We studied 150 cognitively unimpaired participants and 100 patients with mild cognitive impairment in the Swedish BioFINDER study. P-tau217 was measured repeatedly for up to 6 years (median three samples per person, median time from first to last sample, 4.3 years). Preclinical (amyloid-β-positive cognitively unimpaired, n = 62) and prodromal (amyloid-β-positive mild cognitive impairment, n = 49) Alzheimer’s disease had accelerated p-tau217 compared to amyloid-β-negative cognitively unimpaired (β  =  0.56, P &lt; 0.001, using linear mixed effects models) and amyloid-β-negative mild cognitive impairment patients (β  =  0.67, P &lt; 0.001), respectively. Mild cognitive impairment patients who later converted to Alzheimer’s disease dementia (n = 40) had accelerated p-tau217 compared to other mild cognitive impairment patients (β  =  0.79, P &lt; 0.001). P-tau217 did not change in amyloid-β-negative participants, or in patients with mild cognitive impairment who did not convert to Alzheimer’s disease dementia. For 80% power, 109 participants per arm were required to observe a slope reduction in amyloid-β-positive cognitively unimpaired (71 participants per arm in amyloid-β-positive mild cognitive impairment). Longitudinal increases in p-tau217 correlated with longitudinal worsening of cognition and brain atrophy. In summary, plasma p-tau217 increases during early Alzheimer’s disease and can be used to monitor disease progression.


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