Clinicopathologic subtype of Alzheimer's disease presenting as corticobasal syndrome

INTRODUCTION

The corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is associated with several neuropathologic disorders, including corticobasal degeneration and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

METHOD

In this report, we studied 43 AD patients with CBS (AD-CBS) and compared them with 42 AD patients with typical amnestic syndrome (AD-AS), as well as 15 cases of corticobasal degeneration and CBS pathology.

RESULTS

Unlike AD-AS, AD-CBS had prominent motor problems, including limb apraxia (90%), myoclonus (81%), and gait disorders (70%). Alien limb phenomenon was reported in 26% and cortical sensory loss in 14%. Language problems were also more frequent in AD-CBS, and memory impairment was less frequent. AD-CBS had more tau pathology in perirolandic cortices but less in superior temporal cortex than AD-AS. In addition, AD-CBS had greater neuronal loss in the substantia nigra.

DISCUSSION

AD-CBS is a clinicopathological subtype of AD with an atypical distribution of Alzheimer-type tau pathology. Greater neuronal loss in the substantia nigra may contribute to Parkinsonism which is not a feature of typical AD.

Sensitivity and Specificity of Diagnostic Criteria for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

BACKGROUND

In 2017, the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society put forward new clinical criteria for the diagnosis of PSP, recognizing diverse PSP phenotypes. In this study, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of the new criteria with the National Institutes of Neurological Disease and Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy criteria at different times.

METHODS

Patients with clinical parkinsonism, clinical and/or neuropathological diagnosis of PSP, were identified from the Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy brain bank. All patients had neuropathologic diagnoses and detailed clinical examination performed by a neurologist at 1 of the 3 Mayo Clinic sites, in Florida, Arizona, and Minnesota. Clinical symptoms and signs were abstracted retrospectively in a blinded fashion and used to determine whether patients met either diagnostic criterion. Patients were divided into early and late disease stage groups using a 3-year cutoff.

RESULTS

A total of 129 patients were included, of whom 66 had PSP pathology (51%). The remainder had other neurodegenerative diseases. The overall sensitivity of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society criteria was 87.9%, compared with 45.5% for the National Institutes of Neurological Disease and Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy criteria, whereas the specificity of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society probable PSP criteria was 85.7%, compared with 90.5% for the National Institutes of Neurological Disease and Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. Individual patients were noted to have features of multiple PSP phenotypes.

CONCLUSION

The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society criteria recognize several phenotypes of progressive supranuclear palsy and hence have higher sensitivity than the previous criteria. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Expanded phenotype in a patient with spastic paraplegia 7

Hereditary spastic paraplegia is a group of clinically and genetically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorders, often characterized by weakness and spasticity in the lower limbs. In our study, we describe a spastic paraplegia type 7 patient with an expanded phenotype who was diagnosed after the discovery of pathogenic variants in SPG7.

LRRK2 variation and dementia with Lewy bodies

INTRODUCTION

The leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene contains several variants that cause Parkinson's disease (PD) and others that modify PD risk. However, little is known about the role of LRRK2 in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Aims of this study were to screen DLB patients for pathogenic LRRK2 variants and to evaluate associations between common LRRK2 variants and risk of DLB.

METHODS

417 clinical DLB patients and 1790 controls were included in the primary analysis. Additionally, 355 Lewy body disease patients assessed as having a high likelihood of clinical DLB based on neuropathological findings were included in secondary analysis. Seven pathogenic LRRK2 variants were assessed in patients, while 17 common LRRK2 exonic variants and 1 GWAS-nominated common LRRK2 PD-risk variant were evaluated for association with DLB.

RESULTS

We identified carriers of 2 different pathogenic LRRK2 variants. One clinical DLB patient was a p.G2019S carrier, while in the pathological high likelihood DLB series there was one carrier of the p.R1441C mutation. However, examination of clinical records revealed the p.R1441C carrier to have PD with dementia. Evaluation of common variants did not reveal any associations with DLB risk after multiple testing adjustment. However, a non-significant trend similar to that previously reported for PD was observed for the protective p.N551K-R1398H-K1423K haplotype in the clinical DLB series (OR: 0.76, P = 0.061).

CONCLUSION

LRRK2 does not appear to play a major role in DLB, however further study of p.G2019S and the p.N551K-R1398H-K1423K haplotype is warranted to better understand their involvement in determining DLB risk.

SLC1A2 rs3794087 does not associate with essential tremor

A recent genome-wide association study of patients with essential tremor (ET) from Germany has nominated SLC1A2 rs3794087 as a novel risk factor for disease. This association was independently replicated in the Chinese population, albeit with an opposite direction of effect. To further define the role of SLC1A2 in ET, we genotyped rs3794087 in a North American series consisting of 1347 patients with ET and controls. Statistical analysis did not identify significant differences in genotype or allele frequencies between healthy controls and patients with ET (p > 0.36). These findings therefore do not support a role for SLC1A2 rs3794087 in susceptibility to ET in the North American population. Further studies in ethnically distinct populations of patients with ET are necessary to understand whether genetic variability in SLC1A2 affects disease risk for ET.