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Oeckl P, Janelidze S, Halbgebauer S, Stomrud E, Palmqvist S, Otto M, Hansson O. Higher plasma β-synuclein indicates early synaptic degeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement 2023; 19:5095-5102. [PMID: 37186338 DOI: 10.1002/alz.13103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION β-Synuclein is an emerging synaptic blood biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) but differences in β-synuclein levels in preclinical AD and its association with amyloid and tau pathology have not yet been studied. METHODS We measured plasma β-synuclein levels in cognitively unimpaired individuals with positive Aβ-PET (i.e., preclinical AD, N = 48) or negative Aβ-PET (N = 61), Aβ-positive patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI, N = 36), and Aβ-positive AD dementia (N = 85). Amyloid (A) and tau (T) pathology were assessed by [18 F]flutemetamol and [18 F]RO948 PET. RESULTS Plasma β-synuclein levels were higher in preclinical AD and even higher in MCI and AD dementia. Stratification according to amyloid/tau pathology revealed higher β-synuclein in A+ T- and A+ T+ subjects compared with A- T- . Plasma β-synuclein levels were related to tau and Aβ pathology and associated with temporal cortical thinning and cognitive impairment. DISCUSSION Our data indicate that plasma β-synuclein might track synaptic dysfunction, even during the preclinical stages of AD. HIGHLIGHTS Plasma β-synuclein is already higher in preclinical AD. Plasma β-synuclein is higher in MCI and AD dementia than in preclinical AD. Aβ- and tau-PET SUVRs are associated with plasma β-synuclein levels. Plasma β-synuclein is already higher in tau-PET negative subjects. Plasma β-synuclein is related to temporal cortical atrophy and cognitive impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Oeckl
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases e.V. (DZNE), Ulm, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, Ulm, Germany
| | - Shorena Janelidze
- Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Steffen Halbgebauer
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases e.V. (DZNE), Ulm, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, Ulm, Germany
| | - Erik Stomrud
- Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Sebastian Palmqvist
- Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Markus Otto
- Department of Neurology, Ulm University Hospital, Ulm, Germany
- University Clinic and Polyclinic for Neurology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
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Harper L, de Boer S, Lindberg O, Lätt J, Cullen N, Clark L, Irwin D, Massimo L, Grossman M, Hansson O, Pijnenburg Y, McMillan CT, Santillo AF. Anterior cingulate sulcation is associated with onset and survival in frontotemporal dementia. Brain Commun 2023; 5:fcad264. [PMID: 37869576 PMCID: PMC10586312 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Frontotemporal dementia is the second most common form of early onset dementia (<65 years). Despite this, there are few known disease-modifying factors. The anterior cingulate is a focal point of pathology in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Sulcation of the anterior cingulate is denoted by the presence of a paracingulate sulcus, a tertiary sulcus developing, where present during the third gestational trimester and remaining stable throughout life. This study aims to examine the impact of right paracingulate sulcal presence on the expression and prognosis of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. This retrospective analysis drew its population from two clinical samples recruited from memory clinics at university hospitals in the USA and The Netherlands. Individuals with sporadic behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia were enrolled between 2000 and 2022 and followed up for an average of 7.71 years. T1-MRI data were evaluated for hemispheric paracingulate sulcal presence in accordance with an established protocol by two blinded raters. Outcome measures included age at onset, survival, cortical thickness and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration-modified Clinical Dementia Rating determined clinical disease progression. The study population consisted of 186 individuals with sporadic behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (113 males and 73 females), mean age 63.28 years (SD 8.32). The mean age at onset was 2.44 years later in individuals possessing a right paracingulate sulcus [60.2 years (8.54)] versus individuals who did not [57.76 (8.05)], 95% confidence interval > 0.41, P = 0.02. Education was not associated with age at onset (β = -0.05, P = 0.75). The presence of a right paracingulate sulcus was associated with an 83% increased risk of death per year after age at onset (hazard ratio 1.83, confidence interval [1.09-3.07], P < 0.02), whilst the mean age at death was similar for individuals with a present and absent right paracingulate sulcus (P = 0.7). Right paracingulate sulcal presence was not associated with baseline cortical thickness. Right paracingulate sulcal presence is associated with disease expression and survival in sporadic behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Findings provide evidence of neurodevelopmental brain reserve in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia that may be important in the design of trials for future therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Harper
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö 20502, Sweden
| | - Sterre de Boer
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, Amsterdam 1081 HZ, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam 1105 BA, The Netherlands
| | - Olof Lindberg
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm 17165, Sweden
| | - Jimmy Lätt
- Centre for Medical Imaging and Physiology, Skane University Hospital, Lund 22242, Sweden
| | - Nicholas Cullen
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö 20502, Sweden
| | - Lyles Clark
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - David Irwin
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Lauren Massimo
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö 20502, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö 22100, Sweden
| | - Yolande Pijnenburg
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, Amsterdam 1081 HZ, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Amsterdam 1105 BA, The Netherlands
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center (FTDC), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Alexander F Santillo
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö 20502, Sweden
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3
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Bocancea DI, Svenningsson AL, van Loenhoud AC, Groot C, Barkhof F, Strandberg O, Smith R, La Joie R, Rosen HJ, Pontecorvo MJ, Rabinovici GD, van der Flier WM, Hansson O, Ossenkoppele R. Determinants of cognitive and brain resilience to tau pathology: a longitudinal analysis. Brain 2023; 146:3719-3734. [PMID: 36967222 PMCID: PMC10473572 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Mechanisms of resilience against tau pathology in individuals across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum are insufficiently understood. Longitudinal data are necessary to reveal which factors relate to preserved cognition (i.e. cognitive resilience) and brain structure (i.e. brain resilience) despite abundant tau pathology, and to clarify whether these associations are cross-sectional or longitudinal. We used a longitudinal study design to investigate the role of several demographic, biological and brain structural factors in yielding cognitive and brain resilience to tau pathology as measured with PET. In this multicentre study, we included 366 amyloid-β-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease dementia with baseline 18F-flortaucipir-PET and longitudinal cognitive assessments. A subset (n = 200) additionally underwent longitudinal structural MRI. We used linear mixed-effects models with global cognition and cortical thickness as dependent variables to investigate determinants of cognitive resilience and brain resilience, respectively. Models assessed whether age, sex, years of education, APOE-ε4 status, intracranial volume (and cortical thickness for cognitive resilience models) modified the association of tau pathology with cognitive decline or cortical thinning. We found that the association between higher baseline tau-PET levels (quantified in a temporal meta-region of interest) and rate of cognitive decline (measured with repeated Mini-Mental State Examination) was adversely modified by older age (Stβinteraction = -0.062, P = 0.032), higher education level (Stβinteraction = -0.072, P = 0.011) and higher intracranial volume (Stβinteraction = -0.07, P = 0.016). Younger age, higher education and greater cortical thickness were associated with better cognitive performance at baseline. Greater cortical thickness was furthermore associated with slower cognitive decline independent of tau burden. Higher education also modified the negative impact of tau-PET on cortical thinning, while older age was associated with higher baseline cortical thickness and slower rate of cortical thinning independent of tau. Our analyses revealed no (cross-sectional or longitudinal) associations for sex and APOE-ε4 status on cognition and cortical thickness. In this longitudinal study of clinically impaired individuals with underlying Alzheimer's disease neuropathological changes, we identified education as the most robust determinant of both cognitive and brain resilience against tau pathology. The observed interaction with tau burden on cognitive decline suggests that education may be protective against cognitive decline and brain atrophy at lower levels of tau pathology, with a potential depletion of resilience resources with advancing pathology. Finally, we did not find major contributions of sex to brain nor cognitive resilience, suggesting that previous links between sex and resilience might be mainly driven by cross-sectional differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana I Bocancea
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Anna C van Loenhoud
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Colin Groot
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, 211 46 Lund, Sweden
| | - Frederik Barkhof
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Center for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Olof Strandberg
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, 211 46 Lund, Sweden
| | - Ruben Smith
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, 211 46 Lund, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, 221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Renaud La Joie
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | | | - Gil D Rabinovici
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
- Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Wiesje M van der Flier
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, 211 46 Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, 214 28 Malmö, Sweden
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, 211 46 Lund, Sweden
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Young AL, Vogel JW, Robinson JL, McMillan CT, Ossenkoppele R, Wolk DA, Irwin DJ, Elman L, Grossman M, Lee VMY, Lee EB, Hansson O. Data-driven neuropathological staging and subtyping of TDP-43 proteinopathies. Brain 2023; 146:2975-2988. [PMID: 37150879 PMCID: PMC10317181 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023] Open
Abstract
TAR DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) accumulation is the primary pathology underlying several neurodegenerative diseases. Charting the progression and heterogeneity of TDP-43 accumulation is necessary to better characterize TDP-43 proteinopathies, but current TDP-43 staging systems are heuristic and assume each syndrome is homogeneous. Here, we use data-driven disease progression modelling to derive a fine-grained empirical staging system for the classification and differentiation of frontotemporal lobar degeneration due to TDP-43 (FTLD-TDP, n = 126), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, n = 141) and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC) with and without Alzheimer's disease (n = 304). The data-driven staging of ALS and FTLD-TDP complement and extend previously described human-defined staging schema for ALS and behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. In LATE-NC individuals, progression along data-driven stages was positively associated with age, but negatively associated with age in individuals with FTLD-TDP. Using only regional TDP-43 severity, our data driven model distinguished individuals diagnosed with ALS, FTLD-TDP or LATE-NC with a cross-validated accuracy of 85.9%, with misclassifications associated with mixed pathological diagnosis, age and genetic mutations. Adding age and SuStaIn stage to this model increased accuracy to 92.3%. Our model differentiates LATE-NC from FTLD-TDP, though some overlap was observed between late-stage LATE-NC and early-stage FTLD-TDP. We further tested for the presence of subtypes with distinct regional TDP-43 progression patterns within each diagnostic group, identifying two distinct cortical-predominant and brainstem-predominant subtypes within FTLD-TDP and a further two subcortical-predominant and corticolimbic-predominant subtypes within ALS. The FTLD-TDP subtypes exhibited differing proportions of TDP-43 type, while there was a trend for age differing between ALS subtypes. Interestingly, a negative relationship between age and SuStaIn stage was seen in the brainstem/subcortical-predominant subtype of each proteinopathy. No subtypes were observed for the LATE-NC group, despite aggregating individuals with and without Alzheimer's disease and a larger sample size for this group. Overall, we provide an empirical pathological TDP-43 staging system for ALS, FTLD-TDP and LATE-NC, which yielded accurate classification. We further demonstrate that there is substantial heterogeneity amongst ALS and FTLD-TDP progression patterns that warrants further investigation in larger cross-cohort studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra L Young
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, WC1V 6LJ, UK
| | - Jacob W Vogel
- Department of Clinical Sciences, SciLifeLab, Lund University, SE-222 42 Lund, Sweden
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, SE-222 42 Lund, Sweden
| | - John L Robinson
- Penn Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, SE-222 42 Lund, Sweden
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - David A Wolk
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - David J Irwin
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Digital Neuropathology Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Lauren Elman
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Virginia M Y Lee
- Penn Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Edward B Lee
- Penn Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University, SE-222 42 Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden
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Pereira JB, Janelidze S, Smith R, Mattsson-Carlgren N, Palmqvist S, Teunissen CE, Zetterberg H, Stomrud E, Ashton NJ, Blennow K, Hansson O. Plasma GFAP is an early marker of amyloid-β but not tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Brain 2021; 144:3505-3516. [PMID: 34259835 PMCID: PMC8677538 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 181] [Impact Index Per Article: 60.3] [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: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although recent clinical trials targeting amyloid-β in Alzheimer's disease have shown promising results, there is increasing evidence suggesting that understanding alternative disease pathways that interact with amyloid-β metabolism and amyloid pathology might be important to halt the clinical deterioration. In particular, there is evidence supporting a critical role of astroglial activation and astrocytosis in Alzheimer's disease. However, so far, no studies have assessed whether astrocytosis is independently related to either amyloid-β or tau pathology in vivo. To address this question, we determined the levels of the astrocytic marker GFAP in plasma and CSF of 217 amyloid-β-negative cognitively unimpaired individuals, 71 amyloid-β-positive cognitively unimpaired individuals, 78 amyloid-β-positive cognitively impaired individuals, 63 amyloid-β-negative cognitively impaired individuals and 75 patients with a non-Alzheimer's disease neurodegenerative disorder from the Swedish BioFINDER-2 study. Participants underwent longitudinal amyloid-β (18F-flutemetamol) and tau (18F-RO948) PET as well as cognitive testing. We found that plasma GFAP concentration was significantly increased in all amyloid-β-positive groups compared with participants without amyloid-β pathology (P < 0.01). In addition, there were significant associations between plasma GFAP with higher amyloid-β-PET signal in all amyloid-β-positive groups, but also in cognitively normal individuals with normal amyloid-β values (P < 0.001), which remained significant after controlling for tau-PET signal. Furthermore, plasma GFAP could predict amyloid-β-PET positivity with an area under the curve of 0.76, which was greater than the performance achieved by CSF GFAP (0.69) and other glial markers (CSF YKL-40: 0.64, soluble TREM2: 0.71). Although correlations were also observed between tau-PET and plasma GFAP, these were no longer significant after controlling for amyloid-β-PET. In contrast to plasma GFAP, CSF GFAP concentration was significantly increased in non-Alzheimer's disease patients compared to other groups (P < 0.05) and correlated with amyloid-β-PET only in amyloid-β-positive cognitively impaired individuals (P = 0.005). Finally, plasma GFAP was associated with both longitudinal amyloid-β-PET and cognitive decline, and mediated the effect of amyloid-β-PET on tau-PET burden, suggesting that astrocytosis secondary to amyloid-β aggregation might promote tau accumulation. Altogether, these findings indicate that plasma GFAP is an early marker associated with brain amyloid-β pathology but not tau aggregation, even in cognitively normal individuals with a normal amyloid-β status. This suggests that plasma GFAP should be incorporated in current hypothetical models of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis and be used as a non-invasive and accessible tool to detect early astrocytosis secondary to amyloid-β pathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana B Pereira
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
| | - Shorena Janelidze
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
| | - Ruben Smith
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Niklas Mattsson-Carlgren
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Sebastian Palmqvist
- Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Neurology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Charlotte E Teunissen
- Neurochemistry Laboratory, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Henrik Zetterberg
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden
- Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, London, UK
| | - Erik Stomrud
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Nicholas J Ashton
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden
- Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, London, UK
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health and Biomedical Research Unit for Dementia at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation, London, UK
| | - Kaj Blennow
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden
- Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
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6
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Berron D, van Westen D, Ossenkoppele R, Strandberg O, Hansson O. Medial temporal lobe connectivity and its associations with cognition in early Alzheimer's disease. Brain 2020; 143:1233-1248. [PMID: 32252068 PMCID: PMC7174043 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaa068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.0] [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: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 01/15/2020] [Accepted: 01/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human episodic memory critically depends on subregions of the medial temporal lobe, which are part of functional brain systems such as the anterior-temporal and the posterior-medial system. Here we analysed how Alzheimer's pathology affects functional connectivity within these systems. Data from 256 amyloid-β-negative cognitively unimpaired, 103 amyloid-β-positive cognitively unimpaired, and 83 amyloid-β-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment were analysed. Amyloid-β and tau pathology were measured using the CSF amyloid-β42/40 ratio and phosphorylated tau, respectively. We found that amyloid-β-positive cognitively unimpaired individuals were mainly characterized by decreased functional connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and regions in the anterior-temporal system, most prominently between left perirhinal/entorhinal cortices and medial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, correlation analysis in this group revealed decreasing functional connectivity between bilateral perirhinal/entorhinal cortices, anterior hippocampus and posterior-medial regions with increasing levels of phosphorylated tau. The amyloid-β-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment mostly exhibited reduced connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and posterior-medial regions, predominantly between the anterior hippocampus and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, they showed hyperconnectivity within the medial temporal lobe and its immediate proximity. Lower medial temporal-cortical functional connectivity networks resulting from the group comparisons of cognitively unimpaired individuals were associated with reduced memory performance and more rapid longitudinal memory decline as shown by linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Finally, we found that reduced medial temporal-cortical connectivity in mildly cognitively impaired individuals was related to reduced entorhinal thickness and white matter integrity of the parahippocampal cingulum and the fornix. No such relationships were found in cognitively unimpaired individuals. In conclusion, our findings show that the earliest changes in preclinical Alzheimer's disease might involve decreased connectivity within the anterior-temporal system, and early changes in connectivity might be related to memory impairment, but not to structural changes. With disease progression and increased tau pathology, medial temporal functional connectivity with posterior-medial regions seems to be increasingly impaired. In individuals with mild cognitive impairment, reduced functional connectivity is associated with structural brain changes as well as the emergence of locally increased connectivity patterns. Thus, functional connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and the anterior-temporal and posterior-medial system could serve as stage-specific functional markers in early Alzheimer's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Berron
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Danielle van Westen
- Diagnostic Radiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Image and Function, Skane University Hospital, Sweden
| | - Rik Ossenkoppele
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Olof Strandberg
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
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