scholarly journals Age, vascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease pathologies in amyloid negative elderly adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tengfei Guo ◽  
Susan M. Landau ◽  
William J. Jagust ◽  

Abstract Background We recently reported that CSF phosphorylated tau (p-Tau181) relative to Aβ40 (CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 ratio) was less noisy and increased associations with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers compared to CSF p-Tau181 alone. While elevations of CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 can occur in amyloid-β (Aβ) negative (Aβ-) individuals, the factors associated with these elevations and their role in neurodegeneration and cognitive decline are unknown. We aim to explore factors associated with elevated tau in CSF, and how these elevated tau are related to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in the absence of Aβ positivity. Methods We examined relationships between CSF p-Tau/Aβ40, and CSF Aβ42/Aβ40, Aβ PET, and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) as well as vascular risk factors in 149 cognitively unimpaired and 52 impaired individuals who were presumably not on the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathway due to negative Aβ status on both CSF and PET. Subgroups had 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET and adjusted hippocampal volume (aHCV), and longitudinal measures of CSF, aHCV, FDG PET, and cognition data, so we examined CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 associations with these measures as well. Results Elevated CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 was associated with older age, male sex, greater WMH, and hypertension as well as a pattern of hippocampal atrophy and temporoparietal hypometabolism characteristic of AD. Lower CSF Aβ42/Aβ40, higher WMH, and hypertension but not age, sex, Aβ PET, APOE-ε4 status, body mass index, smoking, and hyperlipidemia at baseline predicted CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 increases over approximately 5 years of follow-up. The relationship between CSF p-Tau/Aβ40 and subsequent cognitive decline was partially or fully explained by neurodegenerative measurements. Conclusions These data provide surprising clues as to the etiology and significance of tau pathology in the absence of Aβ. It seems likely that, in addition to age, both cerebrovascular disease and subthreshold levels of Aβ are related to this tau accumulation. Crucially, this phenotype of CSF tau elevation in amyloid-negative individuals share features with AD such as a pattern of metabolic decline and regional brain atrophy.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Neda Shafiee ◽  
Mahsa Dadar ◽  
Simon Ducharme ◽  
D. Louis Collins ◽  

Background: While both cognitive and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data has been used to predict progression in Alzheimer’s disease, heterogeneity between patients makes it challenging to predict the rate of cognitive and functional decline for individual subjects. Objective: To investigate prognostic power of MRI-based biomarkers of medial temporal lobe atrophy and macroscopic tissue change to predict cognitive decline in individual patients in clinical trials of early Alzheimer’s disease. Methods: Data used in this study included 312 patients with mild cognitive impairment from the ADNI dataset with baseline MRI, cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β, cognitive test scores, and a minimum of two-year follow-up information available. We built a prognostic model using baseline cognitive scores and MRI-based features to determine which subjects remain stable and which functionally decline over 2 and 3-year follow-up periods. Results: Combining both sets of features yields 77%accuracy (81%sensitivity and 75%specificity) to predict cognitive decline at 2 years (74%accuracy at 3 years with 75%sensitivity and 73%specificity). When used to select trial participants, this tool yields a 3.8-fold decrease in the required sample size for a 2-year study (2.8-fold decrease for a 3-year study) for a hypothesized 25%treatment effect to reduce cognitive decline. Conclusion: When used in clinical trials for cohort enrichment, this tool could accelerate development of new treatments by significantly increasing statistical power to detect differences in cognitive decline between arms. In addition, detection of future decline can help clinicians improve patient management strategies that will slow or delay symptom progression.


2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 721-734
Author(s):  
Cynthia M. Stonnington ◽  
Stefanie N. Velgos ◽  
Yinghua Chen ◽  
Sameena Syed ◽  
Matt Huentelman ◽  
...  

Background: Whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Met carriage impacts the risk or progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the interaction of BDNF Met and APOE4 carriage on cerebral metabolic rate for glucose (CMRgl), amyloid burden, hippocampus volume, and cognitive decline among cognitively unimpaired (CU) adults enrolled in the Arizona APOE cohort study. Methods: 114 CU adults (mean age 56.85 years, 38% male) with longitudinal FDG PET, magnetic resonance imaging, and cognitive measures were BDNF and APOE genotyped. A subgroup of 58 individuals also had Pittsburgh B (PiB) PET imaging. We examined baseline CMRgl, PiB PET amyloid burden, CMRgl, and hippocampus volume change over time, and rate of change in cognition over an average of 15 years. Results: Among APOE4 carriers, BDNF Met carriers had significantly increased amyloid deposition and accelerated CMRgl decline in regions typically affected by AD, but without accompanying acceleration of cognitive decline or hippocampal volume changes and with higher baseline frontal CMRgl and slower frontal decline relative to the Val/Val group. The BDNF effects were not found among APOE4 non-carriers. Conclusion: Our preliminary studies suggest that there is a weak interaction between BDNF Met and APOE4 on amyloid-β plaque burden and longitudinal PET measurements of AD-related CMRgl decline in cognitively unimpaired late-middle-aged and older adults, but with no apparent effect upon rate of cognitive decline. We suggest that cognitive effects of BDNF variants may be mitigated by compensatory increases in frontal brain activity—findings that would need to be confirmed in larger studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Stockmann ◽  
Inge M. W. Verberk ◽  
Nina Timmesfeld ◽  
Robin Denz ◽  
Brian Budde ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We evaluated Aβ misfolding in combination with Aβ42/40 ratio as a prognostic tool for future clinical progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Methods Baseline plasma samples (n = 203) from SCD subjects in the SCIENCe project and Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (age 61 ± 9 years; 57% male, mean follow-up time 2.7 years) were analyzed using immuno-infrared-sensor technology. Within 6 years of follow-up, 22 (11%) individuals progressed to MCI or dementia due to AD. Sensor readout values > 1646 cm− 1 reflected normal Aβ folding; readouts at ≤ 1646 cm− 1 reflected low and at < 1644 cm− 1 high misfolding. We used Cox proportional hazard models to quantify Aβ misfolding as a prognostic biomarker for progression to MCI and dementia due to AD. The accuracy of the predicted development of MCI/AD was determined by time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (t-ROC) curve analyses that take individual follow-up and conversion times into account. Statistical models were adjusted for age, sex, and APOEε4 status. Additionally, plasma Aβ42/40 data measured by SIMOA were statistically analyzed and compared. Results All 22 patients who converted to MCI or AD-dementia within 6 years exhibited Aβ misfolding at baseline. Cox analyses revealed a hazard ratio (HR) of 19 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2–157.8) for future conversion of SCD subjects with high misfolding and of 11 (95% CI 1.0–110.1) for those with low misfolding. T-ROC curve analyses yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94 (95% CI 0.86–1.00; 6-year follow-up) for Aβ misfolding in an age, sex, and APOEε4 model. A similar model with plasma Aβ42/40 ratio yielded an AUC of 0.92 (95% CI, 0.82–1.00). The AUC increased to 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99–1.00) after inclusion of both Aβ misfolding and the Aβ42/40 ratio. Conclusions A panel of structure- and concentration-based plasma amyloid biomarkers may predict conversion to clinical MCI and dementia due to AD in cognitively unimpaired subjects. These plasma biomarkers provide a noninvasive and cost-effective alternative for screening early AD pathological changes. Follow-up studies and external validation in larger cohorts are in progress for further validation of our findings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 1559-1567
Author(s):  
Madeleine M. Blazel ◽  
Karen K. Lazar ◽  
Carol A. Van Hulle ◽  
Yue Ma ◽  
Aleshia Cole ◽  
...  

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) provides insight into the spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. While lumbar punctures (LPs) for CSF collection are generally considered safe procedures, many participants remain hesitant to participate in research involving LPs. Objective: To explore factors associated with participant willingness to undergo a research LP at baseline and follow-up research study visit. Methods: We analyzed data from 700 participants with varying cognition (unimpaired, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia) in the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. We evaluated the relationship of demographic variables (age, sex, race, ethnicity, and years of education) and clinical variables (waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index, AD parental history, cognitive diagnosis) on decision to undergo baseline LP1. We evaluated the relationship of prior LP1 experience (procedure success and adverse events) with the decision to undergo follow-up LP2. The strongest predictors were incorporated into regression models. Results: Over half of eligible participants opted into both baseline and follow-up LP. Participants who underwent LP1 had higher mean education than those who declined (p = 0.020). White participants were more likely to choose to undergo LP1 (p < 0.001); 33% of African American participants opted in compared to 65% of white participants. Controlling for age, education, and AD parental history, race was the only significant predictor for LP1 participation. Controlling for LP1 mild adverse events, successful LP1 predicted LP2 participation. Conclusion: Race was the most important predictor of baseline LP participation, and successful prior LP was the most important predictor of follow-up LP participation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Wei Xu ◽  
Chen-Chen Tan ◽  
Juan-Juan Zou ◽  
Xi-Peng Cao ◽  
Lan Tan ◽  
...  

Background: It is suggested that not all individuals with elevated Aβ will develop dementia or cognitive impairment. Environment or lifestyle might modulate the association of amyloid pathology with cognition. Insomnia is a risk factor of cognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s disease. Objective: To investigate if insomnia moderated the relationship between amyloid-β (Aβ) and longitudinal cognitive performance in non-demented elders. Methods: A total of 385 Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative participants (mean age = 73 years, 48% females) who completed 4 + neuropsychological evaluations and a [18F] florbetapir positron emission tomography scan were followed up to 8 years. Linear mixed-effects regression models were used to examine the interactions effect between insomnia and Aβ on longitudinal cognitive sores, including four domains (memory [MEM], executive function [EF], language [LAN], and visuospatial function [VS]). Results: The Aβ-positive status (A+) but not insomnia independently predicted faster cognitive decline in all domains. Furthermore, the relationship between Aβ and cognitive decline was moderated by insomnia (MEM: χ 2 = 4.05, p = 0.044, EF: χ 2 = 4.38, p = 0.036, LAN: χ 2 = 4.56, p = 0.033, and VS: χ 2 = 4.12, p = 0.042). Individuals with both elevated Aβ and insomnia experienced faster cognitive decline than those with only elevated Aβ or insomnia. Conclusion: These data reinforced the values of insomnia management in preventing dementia, possibly by interacting Aβ metabolism. Future efforts are warranted to determine whether sleep improvement will postpone the onset of dementia, specifically among populations in stages of preclinical or prodromal AD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-211
Author(s):  
Marwan Sabbagh ◽  
Justin Miller ◽  
Stephen Jones ◽  
Aaron Ritter ◽  
Jiong Shi ◽  
...  

Background: Informant-based measures are effective screening tools for cognitive impairment. The Alzheimer’s Questionnaire (AQ) is a subjective, informant-based measure that detects amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with high sensitivity and specificity and has been shown to predict amyloid burden. Objective: To determine whether informant-based report of cognitive decline correlates with hippocampal volume changes in MCI and AD. Methods: Retrospective chart review of 139 clinically referred patients with clinical diagnoses of aMCI or mild dementia due to AD was conducted. Diagnostic status (clinical diagnosis made by a neurologist), NeuroQuant measured MRI brain with percentile rank hippocampal volume, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total, AQ-Total score, and demographic variables were extracted from medical records. Spearman correlation was used to assess the relationship between hippocampal volume and AQ-Total. The AQ was used to assign diagnostic status. Thus, the relationship between the AQ and diagnostic status was excluded. Results: The sample include 88 female and 51 male participants. The mean age was 74.37±9.45, mean MOCA was 22.65±4.18, mean education was 14.80±3.35, and mean AQ score was 10.54±5.22. Hippocampal volume and the AQ correlation was r = –0.33 [95%CI –0.47 to –0.17], p < 0.0001. Conclusion: In a mixed-clinical sample of patients presenting to an outpatient memory disorders center, higher endorseme-nts of functional impairments by caregivers were significantly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes. When used in conjunction with other available measures, these findings further support the role of the AQ in clinical decision-making and demonstrate an additional relationship between clinical measures and volumetric MRI.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1263-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Laske ◽  
Kateryna Sopova ◽  
Christos Gkotsis ◽  
Gerhard W. Eschweiler ◽  
Guido Straten ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Marco Bucci ◽  
Konstantinos Chiotis ◽  
Agneta Nordberg ◽  

AbstractFor early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, it is important to find biomarkers with predictive value for disease progression and clinical manifestations, such as cognitive decline. Individuals can now be profiled based on their biomarker status for Aβ42 (A) or tau (T) deposition and neurodegeneration (N). The aim of this study was to compare the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and imaging (PET/MR) biomarkers in each ATN category and to assess their ability to predict longitudinal cognitive decline. A subset of 282 patients, who had had at the same time PET investigations with amyloid-β and tau tracers, CSF sampling, and structural MRI (18% within 13 months), was selected from the ADNI dataset. The participants were grouped by clinical diagnosis at that time: cognitively normal, subjective memory concern, early or late mild cognitive impairment, or AD. Agreement between CSF (amyloid-β-1-42(A), phosphorylated-Tau181(T), total-Tau(N)), and imaging (amyloid-β PET (florbetaben and florbetapir)(A), tau PET (flortaucipir)(T), hippocampal volume (MRI)(N)) positivity in ATN was assessed with Cohen’s Kappa. Linear mixed-effects models were used to predict decline in the episodic memory. There was moderate agreement between PET and CSF for A biomarkers (Kappa = 0.39–0.71), while only fair agreement for T biomarkers (Kappa ≤ 0.40, except AD) and discordance for N biomarkers across all groups (Kappa ≤ 0.14) was found. Baseline PET tau predicted longitudinal decline in episodic memory irrespective of CSF p-Tau181 positivity (p ≤ 0.02). Baseline PET tau and amyloid-β predicted decline in episodic memory (p ≤ 0.0001), but isolated PET amyloid-β did not. Isolated PET Tau positivity was only observed in 2 participants (0.71% of the sample). While results for amyloid-β were similar using CSF or imaging, CSF and imaging results for tau and neurodegeneration were not interchangeable. PET tau positivity was superior to CSF p-Tau181 and PET amyloid-β in predicting cognitive decline in the AD continuum within 3 years of follow-up.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabricio Ferreira de Oliveira ◽  
Elizabeth Suchi Chen ◽  
Marilia Cardoso Smith ◽  
Paulo Henrique Ferreira Bertolucci

Background: While the angiotensin-converting enzyme degrades amyloid-β, angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors (ACEis) may slow cognitive decline by way of cholinergic effects, by increasing brain substance P and boosting the activity of neprilysin, and by modulating glucose homeostasis and augmenting the secretion of adipokines to enhance insulin sensitivity in patients with Alzheimer’s disease dementia (AD). We aimed to investigate whether ACE gene polymorphisms rs1800764 and rs4291 are associated with cognitive and functional change in patients with AD, while also taking APOE haplotypes and anti-hypertensive treatment with ACEis into account for stratification. Methods: Consecutive late-onset AD patients were screened with cognitive tests, while their caregivers were queried for functional and caregiver burden scores. Prospective pharmacogenetic correlations were estimated for one year, considering APOE and ACE genotypes and haplotypes, and treatment with ACEis. Results: For 193 patients, minor allele frequencies were 0.497 for rs1800764 – C (44.6% heterozygotes) and 0.345 for rs4291 – T (38.9% heterozygotes), both in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Almost 94% of all patients used cholinesterase inhibitors, while 155 (80.3%) had arterial hypertension, and 124 used ACEis. No functional impacts were found regarding any genotypes or pharmacological treatment. Either for carriers of ACE haplotypes that included rs1800764 – T and rs4291 – A, or for APOE4- carriers of rs1800764 – T or rs4291 – T, ACEis slowed cognitive decline independently of blood pressure variations. APOE4+ carriers were not responsive to treatment with ACEis. Conclusion: ACEis may slow cognitive decline for patients with AD, more remarkably for APOE4- carriers of specific ACE genotypes.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Nikita Martens ◽  
Melissa Schepers ◽  
Na Zhan ◽  
Frank Leijten ◽  
Gardi Voortman ◽  
...  

We recently found that dietary supplementation with the seaweed Sargassum fusiforme, containing the preferential LXRβ-agonist 24(S)-saringosterol, prevented memory decline and reduced amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition in an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mouse model without inducing hepatic steatosis. Here, we examined the effects of 24(S)-saringosterol as a food additive on cognition and neuropathology in AD mice. Six-month-old male APPswePS1ΔE9 mice and wildtype C57BL/6J littermates received 24(S)-saringosterol (0.5 mg/25 g body weight/day) (APPswePS1ΔE9 n = 20; C57BL/6J n = 19) or vehicle (APPswePS1ΔE9 n = 17; C57BL/6J n = 19) for 10 weeks. Cognition was assessed using object recognition and object location tasks. Sterols were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, Aβ and inflammatory markers by immunohistochemistry, and gene expression by quantitative real-time PCR. Hepatic lipids were quantified after Oil-Red-O staining. Administration of 24(S)-saringosterol prevented cognitive decline in APPswePS1ΔE9 mice without affecting the Aβ plaque load. Moreover, 24(S)-saringosterol prevented the increase in the inflammatory marker Iba1 in the cortex of APPswePS1ΔE9 mice (p < 0.001). Furthermore, 24(S)-saringosterol did not affect the expression of lipid metabolism-related LXR-response genes in the hippocampus nor the hepatic neutral lipid content. Thus, administration of 24(S)-saringosterol prevented cognitive decline in APPswePS1ΔE9 mice independent of effects on Aβ load and without adverse effects on liver fat content. The anti-inflammatory effects of 24(S)-saringosterol may contribute to the prevention of cognitive decline.


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