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Does inflammation precede tau aggregation in early Alzheimer's disease? A PET study.
- Source :
-
Neurobiology of disease [Neurobiol Dis] 2018 Sep; Vol. 117, pp. 211-216. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Jun 11. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Objective: Our aim was to assess with positron emission tomography (PET) the temporal and spatial inter-relationships between levels of cortical microglial activation and the aggregated amyloid-β and tau load in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer's disease (AD).<br />Methods: Six clinically probable AD and 20 MCI subjects had inflammation ( <superscript>11</superscript> C-(R)-PK11195), amyloid ( <superscript>11</superscript> C-PiB) and tau ( <superscript>18</superscript> F-flortaucipir) PET, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a neuropsychological assessment. Parametric images of tracer binding were interrogated at a voxel level and by region of interest analyses.<br />Results: 55% of MCI and 83% of AD subjects had a high amyloid-β load. We have previously reported that clusters of correlated amyloid and inflammation levels are present in cortex. Here we found no correlation between levels of inflammation ( <superscript>11</superscript> C-(R)-PK11195 BP <subscript>ND</subscript> ) and tau ( <superscript>18</superscript> F-flortaucipir SUVR) or MMSE scores in high amyloid-β cases.<br />Interpretation: While correlated levels of amyloid-β and inflammation can be seen in MCI, we did not detect an association between levels of cortical tau tangles and inflammation in our series of high amyloid-β cases. High levels of inflammation could be seen in amyloid-β positive MCI cases where <superscript>18</superscript> F-flortaucipir signals were low suggesting microglial activation precedes tau tangle formation. Inflammation levels were higher in high amyloid-β MCI than in early AD cases, compatible with it initially playing a protective role.<br /> (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognitive Dysfunction diagnostic imaging
Cognitive Dysfunction metabolism
Cross-Sectional Studies
Early Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Inflammation diagnostic imaging
Inflammation metabolism
Male
Middle Aged
Alzheimer Disease diagnostic imaging
Alzheimer Disease metabolism
Positron-Emission Tomography methods
Protein Aggregation, Pathological diagnostic imaging
Protein Aggregation, Pathological metabolism
tau Proteins metabolism
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1095-953X
- Volume :
- 117
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Neurobiology of disease
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 29902557
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2018.06.004