Browsing by Author "Boxer, Adam L."

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    A framework for translating tauopathy therapeutics: Drug discovery to clinical trials
    (Wiley, 2024) Feldman, Howard H.; Cummings, Jeffrey L.; Boxer, Adam L.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Knopman, David S.; Sukoff Rizzo, Stacey J.; Territo, Paul R.; Arnold, Steven E.; Ballard, Clive; Beher, Dirk; Boeve, Bradley F.; Dacks, Penny A.; Diaz, Kristophe; Ewen, Colin; Fiske, Brian; Gonzalez, M. Isabel; Harris, Glenn A.; Hoffman, Beth J.; Martinez, Terina N.; McDade, Eric; Nisenbaum, Laura K.; Palma, Jose-Alberto; Quintana, Melanie; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Rohrer, Jonathan D.; Rosen, Howard J.; Troyer, Matthew D.; Kim, Doo Yeon; Tanzi, Rudolph E.; Zetterberg, Henrik; Ziogas, Nick K.; May, Patrick C.; Rommel, Amy; Medicine, School of Medicine
    The tauopathies are defined by pathological tau protein aggregates within a spectrum of clinically heterogeneous neurodegenerative diseases. The primary tauopathies meet the definition of rare diseases in the United States. There is no approved treatment for primary tauopathies. In this context, designing the most efficient development programs to translate promising targets and treatments from preclinical studies to early-phase clinical trials is vital. In September 2022, the Rainwater Charitable Foundation convened an international expert workshop focused on the translation of tauopathy therapeutics through early-phase trials. Our report on the workshop recommends a framework for principled drug development and a companion lexicon to facilitate communication focusing on reproducibility and achieving common elements. Topics include the selection of targets, drugs, biomarkers, participants, and study designs. The maturation of pharmacodynamic biomarkers to demonstrate target engagement and surrogate disease biomarkers is a crucial unmet need. HIGHLIGHTS: Experts provided a framework to translate therapeutics (discovery to clinical trials). Experts focused on the "5 Rights" (target, drug, biomarker, participants, trial). Current research on frontotemporal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, and corticobasal syndrome therapeutics includes 32 trials (37% on biologics) Tau therapeutics are being tested in Alzheimer's disease; primary tauopathies have a large unmet need.
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    A harmonized memory composite score for cross‐cohort Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia research: development and validation
    (Wiley, 2025-01-03) Sanderson-Cimino, Mark E.; Gross, Alden L.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; Paolillo, Emily W.; Casaletto, Kaitlin B.; Chatterjee, Ankita; Albert, Marilyn S.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Boersema, Brooke; Boxer, Adam L.; Boeve, Brad F.; Clark, Lindsay R.; La Joie, Renaud; Eloyan, Ani; Tomaszewski Farias, Sarah; Gonzales, Mitzi M.; Hammers, Dustin B.; Wise, Amy B.; Cobigo, Yann; Yballa, Claire; Schonhaut, Daniel R.; Hampstead, Benjamin M.; Mechanic-Hamilton, Dawn; Miller, Bruce L.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Rascovsky, Katya; Ringman, John M.; Rosen, Howard J.; Ryman, Sephira; Salmon, David P.; Smith, Glenn E.; Decarli, Charles; Kramer, Joel H.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: The Uniform Data Set (UDS) neuropsychological battery, administered across Alzheimer’s Disease Centers (ADC), includes memory tests but lacks a list‐learning paradigm. ADCs often supplement the UDS with their own preferred list‐learning task. Given the importance of list‐learning for characterizing memory, we aimed to develop a harmonized memory score that incorporates UDS memory tests while allowing centers to contribute differing list‐learning tasks. Method: We applied item‐banking confirmatory factor analysis to develop a composite memory score in 5,287 participants (mean age 67.1; SD = 12.2) recruited through 18 ADCs and four consortia (DiverseVCID, MarkVCID, ALLFTD, LEADS) who completed UDS memory tasks (used as linking‐items) and one of five list‐learning tasks. All analyses used linear regression. We tested whether memory scores were affected by which list‐learning task was administered. To assess construct validity, we tested associations of memory scores with demographics, disease severity (CDR Box Score), an independent memory task (TabCAT Favorites, n = 675), and hippocampal volume (n = 811). We compared performances between cognitively unimpaired (n = 279), AD‐biomarker+ MCI (n = 26), and AD‐biomarker+ dementia (n = 98). In a subsample with amyloid‐ and tau‐PET (n = 49), we compared memory scores from participants with positive vs negative scans determined using established quantitative cutoffs. Result: Model fit indices were excellent (e.g., CFI = 0.998) and factor loadings were strong (0.43‐0.93). Differences in list‐learning task had a negligible effect on scores (average Cohen’s d = 0.11). Higher memory scores were significantly (p’s<.001) correlated with younger age (β = ‐0.18), lower CDR Box Scores (β = ‐0.63), female sex (β = 0.12), higher education (β = 0.19), larger hippocampal volume (β = 0.42), and an independent memory task (β = 0.71, p<0.001). The memory composite declined in a stepwise fashion by diagnosis (cognitively unimpaired>MCI>AD dementia, p<0.001). On average, amyloid‐PET positivity was associated with lower composite scores, but was not statistically significant (β = ‐0.34; p = 0.25; d = 0.40). Tau‐PET positivity was associated with worse performance, demonstrating a large effect size (β = ‐0.75; p<0.002; d = 0.91). Conclusion: The harmonized memory score developed in a large national sample was stable regardless of contributing list‐learning task and its validity for cross‐cohort ADRD research is supported by expected associations with demographics, clinical measures, and Alzheimer’s biomarkers. A processing script will be made available to enhance cross‐cohort ADRD research.
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    Association of Plasma P-tau217 and P-tau181 with clinical phenotype, neuropathology, and imaging markers in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a retrospective diagnostic performance study
    (Elsevier, 2021) Thijssen, Elisabeth H.; La Joie, Renaud; Strom, Amelia; Fonseca, Corrina; Iaccarino, Leonardo; Wolf, Amy; Spina, Salvatore; Allen, Isabel E.; Cobigo, Yann; Heuer, Hilary; VandeVrede, Lawren; Proctor, Nicholas K.; Lago, Argentina Lario; Baker, Suzanne; Sivasankaran, Rajeev; Kieloch, Agnieszka; Kinhikar, Arvind; Yu, Lili; Valentin, Marie-Anne; Jeromin, Andreas; Zetterberg, Henrik; Hansson, Oskar; Mattsson-Carlgren, Niklas; Graham, Danielle; Blennow, Kaj; Kramer, Joel H.; Grinberg, Lea T.; Seeley, William W.; Rosen, Howard; Boeve, Bradley F.; Miller, Bruce L.; Teunissen, Charlotte E.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Rojas, Julio C.; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Boxer, Adam L.; Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration investigators; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: Plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (p-tau217) and plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) are associated with Alzheimer's disease tau pathology. We compared the diagnostic value of both biomarkers in cognitively unimpaired participants and patients with a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease syndromes, or frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) syndromes. Methods: In this retrospective multicohort diagnostic performance study, we analysed plasma samples, obtained from patients aged 18-99 years old who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (Alzheimer's disease dementia, logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia, or posterior cortical atrophy), FTLD syndromes (corticobasal syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia, or semantic variant primary progressive aphasia), or mild cognitive impairment; the participants were from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center, San Francisco, CA, USA, and the Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Consortium (ARTFL; 17 sites in the USA and two in Canada). Participants from both cohorts were carefully characterised, including assessments of CSF p-tau181, amyloid-PET or tau-PET (or both), and clinical and cognitive evaluations. Plasma p-tau181 and p-tau217 were measured using electrochemiluminescence-based assays, which differed only in the biotinylated antibody epitope specificity. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to determine diagnostic accuracy of both plasma markers using clinical diagnosis, neuropathological findings, and amyloid-PET and tau-PET measures as gold standards. Difference between two area under the curve (AUC) analyses were tested with the Delong test. Findings: Data were collected from 593 participants (443 from UCSF and 150 from ARTFL, mean age 64 years [SD 13], 294 [50%] women) between July 1 and Nov 30, 2020. Plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 were correlated (r=0·90, p<0·0001). Both p-tau217 and p-tau181 concentrations were increased in people with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (n=75, mean age 65 years [SD 10]) relative to cognitively unimpaired controls (n=118, mean age 61 years [SD 18]; AUC=0·98 [95% CI 0·95-1·00] for p-tau217, AUC=0·97 [0·94-0·99] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·31) and in pathology-confirmed Alzheimer's disease (n=15, mean age 73 years [SD 12]) versus pathologically confirmed FTLD (n=68, mean age 67 years [SD 8]; AUC=0·96 [0·92-1·00] for p-tau217, AUC=0·91 [0·82-1·00] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·22). P-tau217 outperformed p-tau181 in differentiating patients with Alzheimer's disease syndromes (n=75) from those with FTLD syndromes (n=274, mean age 67 years [SD 9]; AUC=0·93 [0·91-0·96] for p-tau217, AUC=0·91 [0·88-0·94] for p-tau181; pdiff=0·01). P-tau217 was a stronger indicator of amyloid-PET positivity (n=146, AUC=0·91 [0·88-0·94]) than was p-tau181 (n=214, AUC=0·89 [0·86-0·93]; pdiff=0·049). Tau-PET binding in the temporal cortex was more strongly associated with p-tau217 than p-tau181 (r=0·80 vs r=0·72; pdiff<0·0001, n=230). Interpretation: Both p-tau217 and p-tau181 had excellent diagnostic performance for differentiating patients with Alzheimer's disease syndromes from other neurodegenerative disorders. There was some evidence in favour of p-tau217 compared with p-tau181 for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease syndromes versus FTLD syndromes, as an indication of amyloid-PET-positivity, and for stronger correlations with tau-PET signal. Pending replication in independent, diverse, and older cohorts, plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 could be useful screening tools to identify individuals with underlying amyloid and Alzheimer's disease tau pathology.
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    Association of Structural Forms of 17q21.31 with the Risk of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and MAPT Sub-haplotypes
    (medRxiv, 2024-02-28) Wang, Hui; Chang, Timothy S.; Dombroski, Beth A.; Cheng, Po-Liang; Si, Ya-Qin; Tucci, Albert; Patil, Vishakha; Valiente-Banuet, Leopoldo; Farrell, Kurt; Mclean, Catriona; Molina-Porcel, Laura; Alex, Rajput; De Deyn, Peter Paul; Le Bastard, Nathalie; Gearing, Marla; Donker Kaat, Laura; Van Swieten, John C.; Dopper, Elise; Ghetti, Bernardino F.; Newell, Kathy L.; Troakes, Claire; de Yébenes, Justo G.; Rábano-Gutierrez, Alberto; Meller, Tina; Oertel, Wolfgang H.; Respondek, Gesine; Stamelou, Maria; Arzberger, Thomas; Roeber, Sigrun; Müller, Ulrich; Hopfner, Franziska; Pastor, Pau; Brice, Alexis; Durr, Alexandra; Le Ber, Isabelle; Beach, Thomas G.; Serrano, Geidy E.; Hazrati, Lili-Naz; Litvan, Irene; Rademakers, Rosa; Ross, Owen A.; Galasko, Douglas; Boxer, Adam L.; Miller, Bruce L.; Seeley, Willian W.; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M.; Lee, Edward B.; White, Charles L., III; Morris, Huw R.; de Silva, Rohan; Crary, John F.; Goate, Alison M.; Friedman, Jeffrey S.; Leung, Yuk Yee; Coppola, Giovanni; Naj, Adam C.; Wang, Li-San; PSP genetics study group; Dickson, Dennis W.; Höglinger, Günter U.; Tzeng, Jung-Ying; Geschwind, Daniel H.; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Lee, Wan-Ping; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Importance: The chromosome 17q21.31 region, containing a 900 Kb inversion that defines H1 and H2 haplotypes, represents the strongest genetic risk locus in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). In addition to H1 and H2, various structural forms of 17q21.31, characterized by the copy number of α, β, and γ duplications, have been identified. However, the specific effect of each structural form on the risk of PSP has never been evaluated in a large cohort study. Objective: To assess the association of different structural forms of 17q.21.31, defined by the copy numbers of α, β, and γ duplications, with the risk of PSP and MAPT sub-haplotypes. Design setting and participants: Utilizing whole genome sequencing data of 1,684 (1,386 autopsy confirmed) individuals with PSP and 2,392 control subjects, a case-control study was conducted to investigate the association of copy numbers of α, β, and γ duplications and structural forms of 17q21.31 with the risk of PSP. All study subjects were selected from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) Umbrella NG00067.v7. Data were analyzed between March 2022 and November 2023. Main outcomes and measures: The main outcomes were the risk (odds ratios [ORs]) for PSP with 95% CIs. Risks for PSP were evaluated by logistic regression models. Results: The copy numbers of α and β were associated with the risk of PSP only due to their correlation with H1 and H2, while the copy number of γ was independently associated with the increased risk of PSP. Each additional duplication of γ was associated with 1.10 (95% CI, 1.04-1.17; P = 0.0018) fold of increased risk of PSP when conditioning H1 and H2. For the H1 haplotype, addition γ duplications displayed a higher odds ratio for PSP: the odds ratio increases from 1.21 (95%CI 1.10-1.33, P = 5.47 × 10-5) for H1β1γ1 to 1.29 (95%CI 1.16-1.43, P = 1.35 × 10-6) for H1β1γ2, 1.45 (95%CI 1.27-1.65, P = 3.94 × 10-8) for H1β1γ3, and 1.57 (95%CI 1.10-2.26, P = 1.35 × 10-2) for H1β1γ4. Moreover, H1β1γ3 is in linkage disequilibrium with H1c (R2 = 0.31), a widely recognized MAPT sub-haplotype associated with increased risk of PSP. The proportion of MAPT sub-haplotypes associated with increased risk of PSP (i.e., H1c, H1d, H1g, H1o, and H1h) increased from 34% in H1β1γ1 to 77% in H1β1γ4. Conclusions and relevance: This study revealed that the copy number of γ was associated with the risk of PSP independently from H1 and H2. The H1 haplotype with more γ duplications showed a higher odds ratio for PSP and were associated with MAPT sub-haplotypes with increased risk of PSP. These findings expand our understanding of how the complex structure at 17q21.31 affect the risk of PSP.
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    Brain volumetric deficits in MAPT mutation carriers: a multisite study
    (Wiley, 2021) Chu, Stephanie A.; Flagan, Taru M.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Jiskoot, Lize C.; Deng, Jersey; Spina, Salvatore; Zhang, Liwen; Sturm, Virginia E.; Yokoyama, Jennifer S.; Seeley, William W.; Papma, Janne M.; Geschwind, Dan H.; Rosen, Howard J.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Boxer, Adam L.; Heuer, Hilary W.; Forsberg, Leah K.; Brushaber, Danielle E.; Grossman, Murray; Coppola, Giovanni; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Bordelon, Yvette M.; Faber, Kelley; Feldman, Howard H.; Fields, Julie A.; Fong, Jamie C.; Foroud, Tatiana; Gavrilova, Ralitza H.; Ghoshal, Nupur; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Hsiung, Ging-Yuek Robin; Huey, Edward D.; Irwin, David J.; Kantarci, Kejal; Kaufer, Daniel I.; Karydas, Anna M.; Knopman, David S.; Kornak, John; Kramer, Joel H.; Kukull, Walter A.; Lapid, Maria I.; Litvan, Irene; Mackenzie, Ian R. A.; Mendez, Mario F.; Miller, Bruce L.; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Pantelyat, Alexander Y.; Rademakers, Rosa; Ramos, Eliana Marisa; Roberson, Erik D.; Tartaglia, Maria Carmela; Tatton, Nadine A.; Toga, Arthur W.; Vetor, Ashley; Weintraub, Sandra; Wong, Bonnie; Wszolek, Zbigniew K.; ARTFL/LEFFTDS Consortium; Van Swieten, John C.; Lee, Suzee E.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Objective: MAPT mutations typically cause behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia with or without parkinsonism. Previous studies have shown that symptomatic MAPT mutation carriers have frontotemporal atrophy, yet studies have shown mixed results as to whether presymptomatic carriers have low gray matter volumes. To elucidate whether presymptomatic carriers have lower structural brain volumes within regions atrophied during the symptomatic phase, we studied a large cohort of MAPT mutation carriers using a voxelwise approach. Methods: We studied 22 symptomatic carriers (age 54.7 ± 9.1, 13 female) and 43 presymptomatic carriers (age 39.2 ± 10.4, 21 female). Symptomatic carriers' clinical syndromes included: behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (18), an amnestic dementia syndrome (2), Parkinson's disease (1), and mild cognitive impairment (1). We performed voxel-based morphometry on T1 images and assessed brain volumetrics by clinical subgroup, age, and mutation subtype. Results: Symptomatic carriers showed gray matter atrophy in bilateral frontotemporal cortex, insula, and striatum, and white matter atrophy in bilateral corpus callosum and uncinate fasciculus. Approximately 20% of presymptomatic carriers had low gray matter volumes in bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, and lateral temporal cortex. Within these regions, low gray matter volumes emerged in a subset of presymptomatic carriers as early as their thirties. Low white matter volumes arose infrequently among presymptomatic carriers. Interpretation: A subset of presymptomatic MAPT mutation carriers showed low volumes in mesial temporal lobe, the region ubiquitously atrophied in all symptomatic carriers. With each decade of age, an increasing percentage of presymptomatic carriers showed low mesial temporal volume, suggestive of early neurodegeneration.
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    Clinical and neuropathological associations of plasma Aβ42/Aβ40, p‐tau217 and neurofilament light in sporadic frontotemporal dementia spectrum disorders
    (Wiley, 2025-01-29) Rajbanshi, Binita; Araujo, Igor Prufer Q. C.; VandeVrede, Lawren; Ljubenkov, Peter A.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Heuer, Hilary W.; Lago, Argentina Lario; Ramos, Eliana Marisa; Petrucelli, Leonard; Gendron, Tania; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Seeley, William W.; Grinberg, Lea T.; Spina, Salvatore; Bateman, Randall J.; Rosen, Howard J.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Boxer, Adam L.; Rojas, Julio C.; ALLFTD Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Plasma amyloid beta42/amyloid beta40 (Aβ42/Aβ40) and phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217) identify individuals with primary Alzheimer's disease (AD). They may detect AD co-pathology in the setting of other primary neurodegenerative diseases, but this has not been systematically studied. Methods: We compared the clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological associations of plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 (mass spectrometry), p-tau217 (electrochemiluminescence), and neurofilament light ([NfL], single molecule array [Simoa]), as markers of AD co-pathology, in a sporadic frontotemporal dementia (FTD) cohort (n = 620). Results: Aβ42/Aβ40 showed no clinicopathological associations. High p-tau217 was present in amnestic dementia (AmD) presumed to be due to FTD, logopenic primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA), and APOEε4 carriers, and correlated with worse baseline and longitudinal clinical scores, lower hippocampal volumes, and more severe AD co-pathology (Braak Stage). NfL was elevated in all FTD phenotypes, and correlated with clinical scores and frontotemporal brain volumes. Discussion: Plasma p-tau217 has clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropathological correlates in sporadic FTD and may identify FTD cases with AD co-pathology. Highlights: Alzheimer's disease (AD) features could be identified with plasma phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217) in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).Plasma p-tau217 is a better discriminator of AD co-pathology and AD-associated features in FTLD than plasma amyloid beta42/amyloid beta40 (Aβ42/Aβ40) and neurofilament light (NfL).In FTLD, plasma p-tau217, but not Aβ42/Aβ40 or neurofilament light, has phenotypical, neurocognitive, and neuroimaging correlates suggestive of AD co-pathology.
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    Clinicopathological correlations in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia
    (Oxford University Press, 2017-12-01) Perry, David C.; Brown, Jesse A.; Possin, Katherine L.; Datta, Samir; Trujillo, Andrew; Radke, Anneliese; Karydas, Anna; Kornak, John; Sias, Ana C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Gorno-Tempini, Maria Luisa; Boxer, Adam L.; May, Mary De; Rankin, Katherine P.; Sturm, Virginia E.; Lee, Suzee E.; Matthews, Brandy R.; Kao, Aimee W.; Vossel, Keith A.; Tartaglia, Maria Carmela; Miller, Zachary A.; Seo, Sang Won; Sidhu, Manu; Gaus, Stephanie E.; Nana, Alissa L.; Vargas, Jose Norberto S.; Hwang, Ji-Hye L.; Ossenkoppele, Rik; Brown, Alainna B.; Huang, Eric J.; Coppola, Giovanni; Rosen, Howard J.; Geschwind, Daniel; Trojanowski, John Q.; Grinberg, Lea T.; Kramer, Joel H.; Miller, Bruce L.; Seely, William W.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Accurately predicting the underlying neuropathological diagnosis in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) poses a daunting challenge for clinicians but will be critical for the success of disease-modifying therapies. We sought to improve pathological prediction by exploring clinicopathological correlations in a large bvFTD cohort. Among 438 patients in whom bvFTD was either the top or an alternative possible clinical diagnosis, 117 had available autopsy data, including 98 with a primary pathological diagnosis of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), 15 with Alzheimer's disease, and four with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who lacked neurodegenerative disease-related pathology outside of the motor system. Patients with FTLD were distributed between FTLD-tau (34 patients: 10 corticobasal degeneration, nine progressive supranuclear palsy, eight Pick's disease, three frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism associated with chromosome 17, three unclassifiable tauopathy, and one argyrophilic grain disease); FTLD-TDP (55 patients: nine type A including one with motor neuron disease, 27 type B including 21 with motor neuron disease, eight type C with right temporal lobe presentations, and 11 unclassifiable including eight with motor neuron disease), FTLD-FUS (eight patients), and one patient with FTLD-ubiquitin proteasome system positive inclusions (FTLD-UPS) that stained negatively for tau, TDP-43, and FUS. Alzheimer's disease was uncommon (6%) among patients whose only top diagnosis during follow-up was bvFTD. Seventy-nine per cent of FTLD-tau, 86% of FTLD-TDP, and 88% of FTLD-FUS met at least 'possible' bvFTD diagnostic criteria at first presentation. The frequency of the six core bvFTD diagnostic features was similar in FTLD-tau and FTLD-TDP, suggesting that these features alone cannot be used to separate patients by major molecular class. Voxel-based morphometry revealed that nearly all pathological subgroups and even individual patients share atrophy in anterior cingulate, frontoinsula, striatum, and amygdala, indicating that degeneration of these regions is intimately linked to the behavioural syndrome produced by these diverse aetiologies. In addition to these unifying features, symptom profiles also differed among pathological subtypes, suggesting distinct anatomical vulnerabilities and informing a clinician's prediction of pathological diagnosis. Data-driven classification into one of the 10 most common pathological diagnoses was most accurate (up to 60.2%) when using a combination of known predictive factors (genetic mutations, motor features, or striking atrophy patterns) and the results of a discriminant function analysis that incorporated clinical, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological data.
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    Comprehensive cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of plasma neurofilament light across FTD spectrum disorders
    (Elsevier, 2022) Gendron, Tania F.; Heckman, Michael G.; White, Launia J.; Veire, Austin M.; Pedraza, Otto; Burch, Alexander R.; Bozoki, Andrea C.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Domoto-Reilly, Kimiko; Foroud, Tatiana; Forsberg, Leah K.; Galasko, Douglas R.; Ghoshal, Nupur; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Grossman, Murray; Heuer, Hilary W.; Huey, Edward D.; Hsiung, Ging-Yuek R.; Irwin, David J.; Kaufer, Daniel I.; Leger, Gabriel C.; Litvan, Irene; Masdeu, Joseph C.; Mendez, Mario F.; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Pascual, Belen; Ritter, Aaron; Roberson, Erik D.; Rojas, Julio C.; Tartaglia, Maria Carmela; Wszolek, Zbigniew K.; Rosen, Howard; Boeve, Bradley F.; Boxer, Adam L.; ALLFTD consortium; Petrucelli, Leonard; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) therapy development is hamstrung by a lack of susceptibility, diagnostic, and prognostic biomarkers. Blood neurofilament light (NfL) shows promise as a biomarker, but studies have largely focused only on core FTD syndromes, often grouping patients with different diagnoses. To expedite the clinical translation of NfL, we avail ARTFL LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD) study resources and conduct a comprehensive investigation of plasma NfL across FTD syndromes and in presymptomatic FTD mutation carriers. We find plasma NfL is elevated in all studied syndromes, including mild cases; increases in presymptomatic mutation carriers prior to phenoconversion; and associates with indicators of disease severity. By facilitating the identification of individuals at risk of phenoconversion, and the early diagnosis of FTD, plasma NfL can aid in participant selection for prevention or early treatment trials. Moreover, its prognostic utility would improve patient care, clinical trial efficiency, and treatment outcome estimations.
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    Correction: Whole-genome sequencing analysis reveals new susceptibility loci and structural variants associated with progressive supranuclear palsy
    (Springer Nature, 2024-10-14) Wang, Hui; Chang, Timothy S.; Dombroski, Beth A.; Cheng, Po-Liang; Patil, Vishakha; Valiente-Banuet, Leopoldo; Farrell, Kurt; Mclean, Catriona; Molina-Porcel, Laura; Rajput, Alex; De Deyn, Peter Paul; Le Bastard, Nathalie; Gearing, Marla; Donker Kaat, Laura; Van Swieten, John C.; Dopper, Elise; Ghetti, Bernardino F.; Newell, Kathy L.; Troakes, Claire; de Yébenes, Justo G.; Rábano-Gutierrez, Alberto; Meller, Tina; Oertel, Wolfgang H.; Respondek, Gesine; Stamelou, Maria; Arzberger, Thomas; Roeber, Sigrun; Müller, Ulrich; Hopfner, Franziska; Pastor, Pau; Brice, Alexis; Durr, Alexandra; Le Ber, Isabelle; Beach, Thomas G.; Serrano, Geidy E.; Hazrati, Lili-Naz; Litvan, Irene; Rademakers, Rosa; Ross, Owen A.; Galasko, Douglas; Boxer, Adam L.; Miller, Bruce L.; Seeley, Willian W.; Van Deerlin, Vivanna M.; Lee, Edward B.; White, Charles L., III; Morris, Huw; de Silva, Rohan; Crary, John F.; Goate, Alison M.; Friedman, Jeffrey S.; Leung, Yuk Yee; Coppola, Giovanni; Naj, Adam C.; Wang, Li-San; P. S. P. genetics study group; Dalgard, Clifton; Dickson, Dennis W.; Höglinger, Günter U.; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Geschwind, Daniel H.; Lee, Wan-Ping; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Correction : Mol Neurodegeneration 19, 61 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1186/s13024-024-00747-3 The original article [1] erroneously gives a wrong affiliation for Ulrich Müller. His correct affiliation is Institute of Human Genetics, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
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    Evaluation of Plasma Phosphorylated Tau217 for Differentiation Between Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Subtypes Among Patients With Corticobasal Syndrome
    (American Medical Association, 2023) VandeVrede, Lawren; La Joie, Renaud; Thijssen, Elisabeth H.; Asken, Breton M.; Vento, Stephanie A.; Tsuei, Torie; Baker, Suzanne L.; Cobigo, Yann; Fonseca, Corrina; Heuer, Hilary W.; Kramer, Joel H.; Ljubenkov, Peter A.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Rojas, Julio C.; Rosen, Howie J.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Boeve, Brad F.; Dickerson, Brad C.; Grossman, Murray; Huey, Edward D.; Irwin, David J.; Litvan, Irene; Pantelyat, Alexander Y.; Tartaglia, Maria Carmela; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Boxer, Adam L.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Importance: Plasma phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217), a biomarker of Alzheimer disease (AD), is of special interest in corticobasal syndrome (CBS) because autopsy studies have revealed AD is the driving neuropathology in up to 40% of cases. This differentiates CBS from other 4-repeat tauopathy (4RT)-associated syndromes, such as progressive supranuclear palsy Richardson syndrome (PSP-RS) and nonfluent primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), where underlying frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is typically the primary neuropathology. Objective: To validate plasma p-tau217 against positron emission tomography (PET) in 4RT-associated syndromes, especially CBS. Design, setting, and participants: This multicohort study with 6, 12, and 24-month follow-up recruited adult participants between January 2011 and September 2020 from 8 tertiary care centers in the 4RT Neuroimaging Initiative (4RTNI). All participants with CBS (n = 113), PSP-RS (n = 121), and nfvPPA (n = 39) were included; other diagnoses were excluded due to rarity (n = 29). Individuals with PET-confirmed AD (n = 54) and PET-negative cognitively normal control individuals (n = 59) were evaluated at University of California San Francisco. Operators were blinded to the cohort. Main outcome and measures: Plasma p-tau217, measured by Meso Scale Discovery electrochemiluminescence, was validated against amyloid-β (Aβ) and flortaucipir (FTP) PET. Imaging analyses used voxel-based morphometry and bayesian linear mixed-effects modeling. Clinical biomarker associations were evaluated using longitudinal mixed-effect modeling. Results: Of 386 participants, 199 (52%) were female, and the mean (SD) age was 68 (8) years. Plasma p-tau217 was elevated in patients with CBS with positive Aβ PET results (mean [SD], 0.57 [0.43] pg/mL) or FTP PET (mean [SD], 0.75 [0.30] pg/mL) to concentrations comparable to control individuals with AD (mean [SD], 0.72 [0.37]), whereas PSP-RS and nfvPPA showed no increase relative to control. Within CBS, p-tau217 had excellent diagnostic performance with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for Aβ PET of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.76-0.98; P < .001) and FTP PET of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.83-1.00; P < .001). At baseline, individuals with CBS-AD (n = 12), defined by a PET-validated plasma p-tau217 cutoff 0.25 pg/mL or greater, had increased temporoparietal atrophy at baseline compared to individuals with CBS-FTLD (n = 39), whereas longitudinally, individuals with CBS-FTLD had faster brainstem atrophy rates. Individuals with CBS-FTLD also progressed more rapidly on a modified version of the PSP Rating Scale than those with CBS-AD (mean [SD], 3.5 [0.5] vs 0.8 [0.8] points/year; P = .005). Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study, plasma p-tau217 had excellent diagnostic performance for identifying Aβ or FTP PET positivity within CBS with likely underlying AD pathology. Plasma P-tau217 may be a useful and inexpensive biomarker to select patients for CBS clinical trials.