scholarly journals Soluble P-tau217 reflects both amyloid and tau pathology in the human brain and mediates the association of amyloid with neocortical tau

Author(s):  
Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren ◽  
Shorena Janelidze ◽  
Randall Bateman ◽  
Ruben Smith ◽  
Erik Stomrud ◽  
...  

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Plasma levels of phospho-tau217 (P-tau217) accurately differentiate Alzheimer’s disease dementia from other dementias, but it is unclear to what degree this reflects β-amyloid plaque accumulation, tau tangle accumulation, or both. In a cohort with post-mortem neuropathological data (N=88), both plaque and tangle density contributed independently to higher P-tau217. Several findings were replicated in a cohort with PET imaging (“BioFINDER-2”, N=426), where β-amyloid and tau PET were independently associated to P-tau217. P-tau217 correlated with β-amyloid PET (but not tau PET) in early disease stages, and with both β-amyloid and (more strongly) tau PET in late disease stages. Finally, P-tau217 mediated the association between β-amyloid and tau in both cohorts, especially for tau outside of the medial temporal lobe. These findings support the hypothesis that plasma P-tau217 is increased by both β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles and is congruent with the hypothesis that P-tau is involved in β-amyloid-dependent formation of neocortical tau tangles.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren ◽  
Shorena Janelidze ◽  
Randall Bateman ◽  
Ruben Smith ◽  
Erik Stomrud ◽  
...  

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Plasma levels of phospho-tau217 (P-tau217) accurately differentiate Alzheimer’s disease dementia from other dementias, but it is unclear to what degree this reflects β-amyloid plaque accumulation, tau tangle accumulation, or both. In a cohort with post-mortem neuropathological data (N=88), both plaque and tangle density contributed independently to higher P-tau217. Several findings were replicated in a cohort with PET imaging (“BioFINDER-2”, N=426), where β-amyloid and tau PET were independently associated to P-tau217. P-tau217 correlated with β-amyloid PET (but not tau PET) in early disease stages, and with both β-amyloid and (more strongly) tau PET in late disease stages. Finally, P-tau217 mediated the association between β-amyloid and tau in both cohorts, especially for tau outside of the medial temporal lobe. These findings support the hypothesis that plasma P-tau217 is increased by both β-amyloid plaques and tau tangles and is congruent with the hypothesis that P-tau is involved in β-amyloid-dependent formation of neocortical tau tangles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Strom ◽  
Leonardo Iaccarino ◽  
Lauren Edwards ◽  
Orit H. Lesman-Segev ◽  
David N. Soleimani-Meigooni ◽  
...  

AbstractPosterior cortical hypometabolism measured with [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET is a well-known marker of Alzheimer’s disease-associated neurodegeneration, but its associations with underlying neuropathological processes are unclear. We assessed the relative contributions of three potential mechanisms causing hypometabolism in the retrosplenial and inferior parietal cortices: local molecular (amyloid and tau) pathology and atrophy, distant factors including contributions from the degenerating medial temporal lobe or molecular pathology in functionally connected regions, and the presence of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele. Two hundred and thirty-two amyloid-positive cognitively impaired patients from two independent cohorts (University of California, San Francisco, UCSF, and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, ADNI) underwent MRI and PET with FDG, amyloid-PET using [11C]-Pittsburgh Compound B, [18F]-Florbetapir, or [18F]-Florbetaben, and [18F]-Flortaucipir tau-PET within one year. Standard uptake value ratios (SUVR) were calculated using tracer-specific reference regions. Brain regions were defined in native space using FreeSurfer. Regression analyses were run within cohorts to identify variables associated with retrosplenial or inferior parietal FDG SUVR. On average, ADNI patients were older and had less severe cognitive impairment than UCSF patients. Regional patterns of hypometabolism were similar between cohorts, though there were cohort differences in regional gray matter atrophy. Local cortical thickness and tau-PET (but not amyloid-PET) were independently associated with both retrosplenial and inferior parietal FDG SUVR (ΔR2 = .09 to .21) across cohorts in models that also included age and disease severity (local model). Including medial temporal lobe volume improved the retrosplenial FDG model in ADNI (ΔR2 = .04, p = .008) but not UCSF (ΔR2 < .01, p = .52), and did not improve the inferior parietal models (ΔR2s < .01, ps > .37). Interaction analyses revealed that medial temporal volume was more strongly associated with retrosplenial FDG SUVR at earlier disease stages (p = .06 in UCSF, p = .046 in ADNI). Models including molecular pathology in functionally connected regions, defined based on task-free functional MRI data from the Neurosynth database, or APOE ε4 did not outperform local models. Overall, hypometabolism in cognitively impaired patients primarily reflected local atrophy and tau pathology, with an added contribution of medial temporal lobe degeneration at earlier disease stages. Our data did not support hypotheses of a detrimental effect of pathology in connected regions or the presence of the APOE ε4 allele in impaired participants. FDG-PET reflects structural neurodegeneration and tau, but not amyloid, pathology at symptomatic stages of Alzheimer’s disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (524) ◽  
pp. eaau5732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud La Joie ◽  
Adrienne V. Visani ◽  
Suzanne L. Baker ◽  
Jesse A. Brown ◽  
Viktoriya Bourakova ◽  
...  

β-Amyloid plaques and tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles are the two neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and are thought to play crucial roles in a neurodegenerative cascade leading to dementia. Both lesions can now be visualized in vivo using positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers, opening new opportunities to study disease mechanisms and improve patients’ diagnostic and prognostic evaluation. In a group of 32 patients at early symptomatic AD stages, we tested whether β-amyloid and tau-PET could predict subsequent brain atrophy measured using longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging acquired at the time of PET and 15 months later. Quantitative analyses showed that the global intensity of tau-PET, but not β-amyloid–PET, signal predicted the rate of subsequent atrophy, independent of baseline cortical thickness. Additional investigations demonstrated that the specific distribution of tau-PET signal was a strong indicator of the topography of future atrophy at the single patient level and that the relationship between baseline tau-PET and subsequent atrophy was particularly strong in younger patients. These data support disease models in which tau pathology is a major driver of local neurodegeneration and highlight the relevance of tau-PET as a precision medicine tool to help predict individual patient’s progression and design future clinical trials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Neitzel ◽  
Nicolai Franzmeier ◽  
Anna Rubinski ◽  
Martin Dichgans ◽  
Matthias Brendel ◽  
...  

AbstractKlotho-VS heterozygosity (KL-VShet) is associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, whether KL-VShet is associated with lower levels of pathologic tau, i.e., the key AD pathology driving neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, is unknown. Here, we assessed the interaction between KL-VShet and levels of beta-amyloid, a key driver of tau pathology, on the levels of PET-assessed neurofibrillary tau in 551 controls and patients across the AD continuum. KL-VShet showed lower cross-sectional and longitudinal increase in tau-PET per unit increase in amyloid-PET when compared to that of non-carriers. This association of KL-VShet on tau-PET was stronger in Klotho mRNA-expressing brain regions mapped onto a gene expression atlas. KL-VShet was related to better memory functions in amyloid-positive participants and this association was mediated by lower tau-PET. Amyloid-PET levels did not differ between KL-VShet carriers versus non-carriers. Together, our findings provide evidence to suggest a protective role of KL-VShet against amyloid-related tau pathology and tau-related memory impairments in elderly humans at risk of AD dementia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 1129-1136
Author(s):  
Meng-Shan Tan ◽  
Yu-Xiang Yang ◽  
Hui-Fu Wang ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
Chen-Chen Tan ◽  
...  

Background: Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles are two neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which both can be visualized in vivo using PET radiotracers, opening new opportunities to study disease mechanisms. Objective: Our study investigated 11 non-PET factors in 5 categories (including demographic, clinical, genetic, MRI, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) features) possibly affecting PET amyloid and tau status to explore the relationships between amyloid and tau pathology, and whether these features had a different association with amyloid and tau status. Methods: We included 372 nondemented elderly from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort. All underwent PET amyloid and tau analysis simultaneously, and were grouped into amyloid/tau quadrants based on previously established abnormality cut points. We examined the associations of above selected features with PET amyloid and tau status using a multivariable logistic regression model, then explored whether there was an obvious correlation between the significant features and PET amyloid or tau levels. Results: Our results demonstrated that PET amyloid and tau status were differently affected by patient features, and CSF biomarker features provided most significant values associating PET findings. CSF Aβ42/40 was the most important factor affecting amyloid PET status, and negatively correlated with amyloid PET levels. CSF pTau could significantly influence both amyloid and tau PET status. Besides CSF pTau and Aβ42, APOE ɛ4 allele status and Mini-Mental State Examination scores also could influence tau PET status, and significantly correlated with tau PET levels. Conclusion: Our results support that tau pathology possibly affected by Aβ-independent factors, implicating the importance of tau pathology in AD pathogenesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi-Dong Chen ◽  
Jia-Ying Lu ◽  
Hong-Qi Li ◽  
Yu-Xiang Yang ◽  
Jie-Hui Jiang ◽  
...  

AbstractA biological research framework to define Alzheimer’ disease with dichotomized biomarker measurement was proposed by National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association (NIA–AA). However, it cannot characterize the hierarchy spreading pattern of tau pathology. To reflect in vivo tau progression using biomarker, we constructed a refined topographic 18F-AV-1451 tau PET staging scheme with longitudinal clinical validation. Seven hundred and thirty-four participants with baseline 18F-AV-1451 tau PET (baseline age 73.9 ± 7.7 years, 375 female) were stratified into five stages by a topographic PET staging scheme. Cognitive trajectories and clinical progression were compared across stages with or without further dichotomy of amyloid status, using linear mixed-effect models and Cox proportional hazard models. Significant cognitive decline was first observed in stage 1 when tau levels only increased in transentorhinal regions. Rates of cognitive decline and clinical progression accelerated from stage 2 to stage 3 and stage 4. Higher stages were also associated with greater CSF phosphorylated tau and total tau concentrations from stage 1. Abnormal tau accumulation did not appear with normal β-amyloid in neocortical regions but prompt cognitive decline by interacting with β-amyloid in temporal regions. Highly accumulated tau in temporal regions independently led to cognitive deterioration. Topographic PET staging scheme have potentials in early diagnosis, predicting disease progression, and studying disease mechanism. Characteristic tau spreading pattern in Alzheimer’s disease could be illustrated with biomarker measurement under NIA–AA framework. Clinical–neuroimaging–neuropathological studies in other cohorts are needed to validate these findings.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Neitzel ◽  
Nicolai Franzmeier ◽  
Anna Rubinski ◽  
Martin Dichgans ◽  
Matthias Brendel ◽  
...  

Klotho-VS heterozygosity (KL-VShet) is associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether KL-VShet is associated with lower levels of pathologic tau, i.e. the key AD pathology driving neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, is unknown. Here, we assessed the interaction between KL-VShet and levels of beta-amyloid, a key driver of tau pathology, on the levels of PET-assessed neurofibrillary tau in 354 controls and patients within the AD continuum. KL-VShet showed lower cross-sectional increase in tau-PET per unit increase in amyloid-PET when compared to that of non-carriers. This effect of KL-VShet on tau-PET showed a tendency to be stronger in Klotho mRNA-expressing brain regions mapped onto a gene expression atlas. KL-VShet was related to better memory functions and this association was mediated by lower tau-PET. Amyloid-PET levels did not differ between KL-VShet carriers versus non-carriers. Together, our findings provide evidence for a protective role of KL-VShet against tau pathology and tau-related memory impairments in elderly humans at risk of AD dementia.


2021 ◽  
pp. jnumed.120.261858
Author(s):  
Gloria Biechele ◽  
Laura Sebastian Monasor ◽  
Karin Wind ◽  
Tanja Blume ◽  
Samira Parhizkar ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 723-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Sturzu ◽  
Sumbla Sheikh ◽  
Hubert Kalbacher ◽  
Thomas Nägele ◽  
Christopher Weidenmaier ◽  
...  

Background: Curcumin has been of interest in the field of Alzheimer’s disease. Early studies on transgenic mice showed promising results in the reduction of amyloid plaques.However, curcumin is very poorly soluble in aqueous solutions and not easily accessible to coupling as it contains only phenolic groups as potential coupling sites. For these reasons only few imaging studies using curcumin bound as an ester were performed and curcumin is mainly used as nutritional supplement. Methods: In the present study we produced an aminoethyl ether derivative of curcumin using a nucleophilic substitution reaction. This is a small modification and should not impact the properties of curcumin while introducing an easily accessible reactive amino group. This novel compound could be used to couple curcumin to other molecules using the standard methods of peptide synthesis. We studied the aminoethyl-curcumin compound and a tripeptide carrying this aminoethyl-curcumin and the fluorescent dye fluorescein (FITC-curcumin) in vitro on cell culture using confocal laser scanning microscopy and flow cytometry. Then these two substances were tested ex vivo on brain sections prepared from transgenic mice depicting Alzheimer-like β-amyloid plaques. Results: In the in vitro CLSM microscopy and flow cytometry experiments we found dot-like unspecific uptake and only slight cytotoxicity correlating with this uptake. As these measurements were optimized for the use of fluorescein as dye we found that the curcumin at 488nm fluorescence excitation was not strong enough to use it as a fluorescence marker in these applications. In the ex vivo sections CLSM experiments both the aminoethyl-curcumin and the FITC-curcumin peptide bound specifically to β- amyloid plaques. Conclusion: In conclusion we successfully produced a novel curcumin derivative which could easily be coupled to other imaging or therapeutic molecules as a sensor for amyloid plaques.


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