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Kouri N, Frankenhauser I, Peng Z, Labuzan SA, Boon BDC, Moloney CM, Pottier C, Wickland DP, Caetano-Anolles K, Corriveau-Lecavalier N, Tranovich JF, Wood AC, Hinkle KM, Lincoln SJ, Spychalla AJ, Senjem ML, Przybelski SA, Engelberg-Cook E, Schwarz CG, Kwan RS, Lesser ER, Crook JE, Carter RE, Ross OA, Lachner C, Ertekin-Taner N, Ferman TJ, Fields JA, Machulda MM, Ramanan VK, Nguyen AT, Reichard RR, Jones DT, Graff-Radford J, Boeve BF, Knopman DS, Petersen RC, Jack CR, Kantarci K, Day GS, Duara R, Graff-Radford NR, Dickson DW, Lowe VJ, Vemuri P, Murray ME. Clinicopathologic Heterogeneity and Glial Activation Patterns in Alzheimer Disease. JAMA Neurol 2024:2817289. [PMID: 38619853 PMCID: PMC11019448 DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.0784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Importance Factors associated with clinical heterogeneity in Alzheimer disease (AD) lay along a continuum hypothesized to associate with tangle distribution and are relevant for understanding glial activation considerations in therapeutic advancement. Objectives To examine clinicopathologic and neuroimaging characteristics of disease heterogeneity in AD along a quantitative continuum using the corticolimbic index (CLix) to account for individuality of spatially distributed tangles found at autopsy. Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional study was a retrospective medical record review performed on the Florida Autopsied Multiethnic (FLAME) cohort accessioned from 1991 to 2020. Data were analyzed from December 2022 to December 2023. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tau positron emission tomography (PET) were evaluated in an independent neuroimaging group. The FLAME cohort includes 2809 autopsied individuals; included in this study were neuropathologically diagnosed AD cases (FLAME-AD). A digital pathology subgroup of FLAME-AD cases was derived for glial activation analyses. Main Outcomes and Measures Clinicopathologic factors of heterogeneity that inform patient history and neuropathologic evaluation of AD; CLix score (lower, relative cortical predominance/hippocampal sparing vs higher, relative cortical sparing/limbic predominant cases); neuroimaging measures (ie, structural MRI and tau-PET). Results Of the 2809 autopsied individuals in the FLAME cohort, 1361 neuropathologically diagnosed AD cases were evaluated. A digital pathology subgroup included 60 FLAME-AD cases. The independent neuroimaging group included 93 cases. Among the 1361 FLAME-AD cases, 633 were male (47%; median [range] age at death, 81 [54-96] years) and 728 were female (53%; median [range] age at death, 81 [53-102] years). A younger symptomatic onset (Spearman ρ = 0.39, P < .001) and faster decline on the Mini-Mental State Examination (Spearman ρ = 0.27; P < .001) correlated with a lower CLix score in FLAME-AD series. Cases with a nonamnestic syndrome had lower CLix scores (median [IQR], 13 [9-18]) vs not (median [IQR], 21 [15-27]; P < .001). Hippocampal MRI volume (Spearman ρ = -0.45; P < .001) and flortaucipir tau-PET uptake in posterior cingulate and precuneus cortex (Spearman ρ = -0.74; P < .001) inversely correlated with CLix score. Although AD cases with a CLix score less than 10 had higher cortical tangle count, we found lower percentage of CD68-activated microglia/macrophage burden (median [IQR], 0.46% [0.32%-0.75%]) compared with cases with a CLix score of 10 to 30 (median [IQR], 0.75% [0.51%-0.98%]) and on par with a CLix score of 30 or greater (median [IQR], 0.40% [0.32%-0.57%]; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance Findings show that AD heterogeneity exists along a continuum of corticolimbic tangle distribution. Reduced CD68 burden may signify an underappreciated association between tau accumulation and microglia/macrophages activation that should be considered in personalized therapy for immune dysregulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi Kouri
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Isabelle Frankenhauser
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
- Paracelsus Medical Private University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Zhongwei Peng
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | | | | | | | - Cyril Pottier
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Daniel P. Wickland
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | | | - Nick Corriveau-Lecavalier
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | | | - Ashley C. Wood
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Kelly M. Hinkle
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | | | | | | | - Scott A. Przybelski
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | | | | | - Rain S. Kwan
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Elizabeth R. Lesser
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Julia E. Crook
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Rickey E. Carter
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Owen A. Ross
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Christian Lachner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Tanis J. Ferman
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Julie A. Fields
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Mary M. Machulda
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | | | - Aivi T. Nguyen
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - R. Ross Reichard
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - David T. Jones
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Kejal Kantarci
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Gregory S. Day
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - Ranjan Duara
- Wien Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
| | | | | | - Val J. Lowe
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
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Crist AM, Hinkle KM, Wang X, Moloney CM, Matchett BJ, Labuzan SA, Frankenhauser I, Azu NO, Liesinger AM, Lesser ER, Serie DJ, Quicksall ZS, Patel TA, Carnwath TP, DeTure M, Tang X, Petersen RC, Duara R, Graff-Radford NR, Allen M, Carrasquillo MM, Li H, Ross OA, Ertekin-Taner N, Dickson DW, Asmann YW, Carter RE, Murray ME. Transcriptomic analysis to identify genes associated with selective hippocampal vulnerability in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2311. [PMID: 33875655 PMCID: PMC8055900 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22399-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Selective vulnerability of different brain regions is seen in many neurodegenerative disorders. The hippocampus and cortex are selectively vulnerable in Alzheimer's disease (AD), however the degree of involvement of the different brain regions differs among patients. We classified corticolimbic patterns of neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem tissue to capture extreme and representative phenotypes. We combined bulk RNA sequencing with digital pathology to examine hippocampal vulnerability in AD. We identified hippocampal gene expression changes associated with hippocampal vulnerability and used machine learning to identify genes that were associated with AD neuropathology, including SERPINA5, RYBP, SLC38A2, FEM1B, and PYDC1. Further histologic and biochemical analyses suggested SERPINA5 expression is associated with tau expression in the brain. Our study highlights the importance of embracing heterogeneity of the human brain in disease to identify disease-relevant gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela M Crist
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Kelly M Hinkle
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Xue Wang
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | | | | | | | - Isabelle Frankenhauser
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
- Paracelsus Medical Private University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Nkem O Azu
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | | | - Elizabeth R Lesser
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Daniel J Serie
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | | | - Tulsi A Patel
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Troy P Carnwath
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Michael DeTure
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Xiaojia Tang
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | | | - Ranjan Duara
- Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL, USA
| | | | - Mariet Allen
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | | | - Hu Li
- Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Owen A Ross
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner
- Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
- Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | | | - Yan W Asmann
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Rickey E Carter
- Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
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