No abstract

See Schott and Fox (doi: ) for a scientific commentary on this article. The relationships between pathophysiological processes in Alzheimer’s disease remain largely unclear. In a longitudinal, multitracer PET study, Rodriguez-Vieitez et al. reveal that progression of autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease is accompanied by prominent early and then declining astrocytosis, increasing amyloid plaque deposition and decreasing glucose metabolism. Astrocyte activation may initiate Alzheimer pathology.

No abstract

The core biomarker pattern is in line with the current pathophysiologic model of AD. Fully normal and fully abnormal pattern is associated with exceptional and universal development of dementia. Cases not in line might be due to atypical neurobiology or inaccurate thresholds for biomarker (ab)normality.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of progressive cognitive deterioration in patients with suspected non-Alzheimer disease pathology (SNAP) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods:We measured markers of amyloid pathology (CSF b-amyloid 42) and neurodegeneration (hippocampal volume on MRI and cortical metabolism on [18 F]-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET) in 201 patients with MCI clinically followed for up to 6 years to detect progressive cognitive deterioration. We categorized patients with MCI as A1/A2 and N1/N2 based on presence/absence of amyloid pathology and neurodegeneration. SNAPs were A2N1 cases.Results: The proportion of progressors was 11% (8/41), 34% (14/41), 56% (19/34), and 71%(60/85) in A2N2, A1N2, SNAP, and A1N1, respectively; the proportion of APOE e4 carriers was 29%, 70%, 31%, and 71%, respectively, with the SNAP group featuring a significantly different proportion than both A1N2 and A1N1 groups (p # 0.005). Hypometabolism in SNAP patients was comparable to A1N1 patients (p 5 0.154), while hippocampal atrophy was more severe in SNAP patients (p 5 0.002). Compared with A2N2, SNAP and A1N1 patients had significant risk of progressive cognitive deterioration (hazard ratio 5 2.7 and 3.8, p 5 0.016 and p , 0.001), while A1N2 patients did not (hazard ratio 5 1.13, p 5 0.771). In A1N2 and A1N1 groups, none of the biomarkers predicted time to progression. In the SNAP group, lower time to progression was correlated with greater hypometabolism (r 5 0.42, p 5 0.073). The amyloid cascade hypothesis 1,2 has so far dominated the Alzheimer disease (AD) field. Jack et al. Conclusions:3,4 proposed a dynamic model that relates disease stage to the best established biomarkers of AD pathology. Based on this, a National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association task force developed recommendations for the diagnosis of preclinical AD based on biomarkers of amyloidosis and neuronal injury.5 Soon afterward, these criteria were operationalized and a

PurposeAmyloid PET tracers have been developed for in vivo detection of brain fibrillar amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To serve as an early biomarker in AD the amyloid PET tracers need to be analysed in multicentre clinical studies.MethodsIn this study 238 [11C]Pittsburgh compound-B (PIB) datasets from five different European centres were pooled. Of these 238 datasets, 18 were excluded, leaving [11C]PIB datasets from 97 patients with clinically diagnosed AD (mean age 69 ± 8 years), 72 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; mean age 67.5 ± 8 years) and 51 healthy controls (mean age 67.4 ± 6 years) available for analysis. Of the MCI patients, 64 were longitudinally followed for 28 ± 15 months. Most participants (175 out of 220) were also tested for apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype.Results[11C]PIB retention in the neocortical and subcortical brain regions was significantly higher in AD patients than in age-matched controls. Intermediate [11C]PIB retention was observed in MCI patients, with a bimodal distribution (64 % MCI PIB-positive and 36 % MCI PIB-negative), which was significantly different the pattern in both the AD patients and controls. Higher [11C]PIB retention was observed in MCI ApoE ε4 carriers compared to non-ApoE ε4 carriers (p < 0.005). Of the MCI PIB-positive patients, 67 % had converted to AD at follow-up while none of the MCI PIB-negative patients converted.ConclusionThis study demonstrated the robustness of [11C]PIB PET as a marker of neocortical fibrillar amyloid deposition in brain when assessed in a multicentre setting. MCI PIB-positive patients showed more severe memory impairment than MCI PIB-negative patients and progressed to AD at an estimated rate of 25 % per year. None of the MCI PIB-negative patients converted to AD, and thus PIB negativity had a 100 % negative predictive value for progression to AD. This supports the notion that PIB-positive scans in MCI patients are an indicator of prodromal AD.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00259-012-2237-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a well-established imaging modality. Measurement of regional cerebral glucose metabolism (rCMR(glc)) using PET and [(18)F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) has become a standard technique in both oncology and dementia research. When measuring rCMR(glc) in Alzheimer's disease (AD), characteristic reductions in rCMR(glc) are found in neocortical association areas including the posterior cingulate, precuneus, temporoparietal and frontal multimodal association regions; the primary visual cortex, sensorimotor cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum are relatively unaffected. FDG-PET has been used in the study of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to accurately predict the subsequent decline to AD. Impairment in rCMR(glc) may be seen in individuals at high genetic risk of AD, even before clinical symptoms are apparent. Characteristic patterns of regional hypometabolism are also seen in other degenerative dementias such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The use of different radioisotopes and tracers increases the versatility of PET. Tracers adopted in dementia research include (11)C-PK-11195 and (11)C-PIB, which have been used to investigate neuroinflammation and amyloid deposition, respectively, in both AD and MCI populations. It is also possible to investigate neurotransmitter systems in dementia; targets have included the cholinergic, dopaminergic and serotonergic systems. Imaging the brains of dementia patients using PET provides important information about the brain function of these individuals that would otherwise be unavailable with other imaging modalities. PET will continue to be important in future dementia research as new tracers become available to help in the early and specific diagnosis of increasingly well-defined clinical syndromes, and assist in the assessment of new therapeutic interventions.

Studying autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (ADAD), caused by gene mutations yielding nearly complete penetrance and a distinct age of symptom onset, allows investigation of presymptomatic pathological processes that can identify a therapeutic window for disease-modifying therapies. Astrocyte activation may occur in presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) because reactive astrocytes surround β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in autopsy brain tissue. Positron emission tomography was performed to investigate fibrillar Aβ, astrocytosis and cerebral glucose metabolism with the radiotracers 11C-Pittsburgh compound-B (PIB), 11C-deuterium-L-deprenyl (DED) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) respectively in presymptomatic and symptomatic ADAD participants (n = 21), patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 11) and sporadic AD (n = 7). Multivariate analysis using the combined data from all radiotracers clearly separated the different groups along the first and second principal components according to increased PIB retention/decreased FDG uptake (component 1) and increased DED binding (component 2). Presymptomatic ADAD mutation carriers showed significantly higher PIB retention than non-carriers in all brain regions except the hippocampus. DED binding was highest in presymptomatic ADAD mutation carriers. This suggests that non-fibrillar Aβ or early stage plaque depostion might interact with inflammatory responses indicating astrocytosis as an early contributory driving force in AD pathology. The novelty of this finding will be investigated in longitudinal follow-up studies.