Browsing by Author "Durant, Alaina"
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Item A genome-wide search for pleiotropy in more than 100,000 harmonized longitudinal cognitive domain scores(BMC, 2023-06-22) Kang, Moonil; Ang, Ting Fang Alvin; Devine, Sherral A.; Sherva, Richard; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Gibbons, Laura E.; Scollard, Phoebe; Lee, Michael; Choi, Seo-Eun; Klinedinst, Brandon; Nakano, Connie; Dumitrescu, Logan C.; Durant, Alaina; Hohman, Timothy J.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Kukull, Walter A.; Bennett, David A.; Wang, Li-San; Mayeux, Richard P.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Crane, Paul K.; Au, Rhoda; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Mez, Jesse B.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineBackground: More than 75 common variant loci account for only a portion of the heritability for Alzheimer's disease (AD). A more complete understanding of the genetic basis of AD can be deduced by exploring associations with AD-related endophenotypes. Methods: We conducted genome-wide scans for cognitive domain performance using harmonized and co-calibrated scores derived by confirmatory factor analyses for executive function, language, and memory. We analyzed 103,796 longitudinal observations from 23,066 members of community-based (FHS, ACT, and ROSMAP) and clinic-based (ADRCs and ADNI) cohorts using generalized linear mixed models including terms for SNP, age, SNP × age interaction, sex, education, and five ancestry principal components. Significance was determined based on a joint test of the SNP's main effect and interaction with age. Results across datasets were combined using inverse-variance meta-analysis. Genome-wide tests of pleiotropy for each domain pair as the outcome were performed using PLACO software. Results: Individual domain and pleiotropy analyses revealed genome-wide significant (GWS) associations with five established loci for AD and AD-related disorders (BIN1, CR1, GRN, MS4A6A, and APOE) and eight novel loci. ULK2 was associated with executive function in the community-based cohorts (rs157405, P = 2.19 × 10-9). GWS associations for language were identified with CDK14 in the clinic-based cohorts (rs705353, P = 1.73 × 10-8) and LINC02712 in the total sample (rs145012974, P = 3.66 × 10-8). GRN (rs5848, P = 4.21 × 10-8) and PURG (rs117523305, P = 1.73 × 10-8) were associated with memory in the total and community-based cohorts, respectively. GWS pleiotropy was observed for language and memory with LOC107984373 (rs73005629, P = 3.12 × 10-8) in the clinic-based cohorts, and with NCALD (rs56162098, P = 1.23 × 10-9) and PTPRD (rs145989094, P = 8.34 × 10-9) in the community-based cohorts. GWS pleiotropy was also found for executive function and memory with OSGIN1 (rs12447050, P = 4.09 × 10-8) and PTPRD (rs145989094, P = 3.85 × 10-8) in the community-based cohorts. Functional studies have previously linked AD to ULK2, NCALD, and PTPRD. Conclusion: Our results provide some insight into biological pathways underlying processes leading to domain-specific cognitive impairment and AD, as well as a conduit toward a syndrome-specific precision medicine approach to AD. Increasing the number of participants with harmonized cognitive domain scores will enhance the discovery of additional genetic factors of cognitive decline leading to AD and related dementias.Item Evaluating the association between APOE genotypes and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers(Wiley, 2025-01-03) Durant, Alaina; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Lee, Michael L.; Choi, Seo-Eun; Scollard, Phoebe; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Mez, Jesse; Bush, William S.; Kunkle, Brian W.; Naj, Adam C.; Gifford, Katherine A.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Cruchaga, Carlos; Hassenstab, Jason J.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Wang, Li-San; Haines, Jonathan L.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Kukull, Walter A.; Keene, C. Dirk; Saykin, Andrew J.; Thompson, Paul M.; Martin, Eden R.; Bennett, David A.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Schneider, Julie A.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Engelman, Corinne D.; Mayeux, Richard; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Crane, Paul K.; Dumitrescu, Logan C.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC); The Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineBackground: “SuperAgers” are older adults (ages 80+) whose cognitive performance resembles that of adults in their 50s to mid‐60s. Factors underlying their exemplary aging are underexplored in large, racially diverse cohorts. Using eight cohorts, we investigated the frequency of APOE genotypes in SuperAgers compared to middle‐aged and older adults. Method: Harmonized, longitudinal memory, executive function, and language scores in Non‐Hispanic White (NHW) and Non‐Hispanic Black (NHB) participants were obtained from the ADSP Phenotype Harmonization Consortium. Scores were age‐ and sex‐adjusted. SuperAgers (NHW = 1,625; NHB = 106) included individuals 80+ years of age with a memory score equal to or exceeding individuals aged 50‐64 and language and executive function domain scores within normal limits who remain cognitively normal across visits. SuperAgers were compared to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cases (NHW = 8,400; NHB = 925) and cognitively normal controls (NHW = 7,355; NHB = 1,305), as well as age‐defined subgroups (Young = ages 50‐64, Older = ages 65‐79, Oldest‐Old = age 80+). We performed binary logistic regression analyses comparing APOE‐ε2 and APOE‐ε4 alleles (0 = none, 1 = 1+ alleles present) among SuperAgers and their counterparts, covarying for sex and education. We corrected for multiple comparisons using the Benjamini‐Hochberg procedure. Results: Across racial groups, SuperAgers had significantly higher proportions with APOE‐ε2 alleles and lower proportions with APOE‐ε4 alleles compared to cases (Table 1, Figure 1). Similar differences were observed between SuperAgers and Young and Old Controls, although differences were restricted to APOE‐ε4 in NHB comparisons. NHW SuperAgers had lower proportions with APOE‐ε4 alleles compared to Oldest‐Old Controls; APOE‐ε2 proportions did not differ. Conclusion: Within our large, harmonized cohort, larger proportions of SuperAgers had APOE‐ε2 alleles and smaller proportions had APOE‐ε4 alleles than AD cases across both NHW and NHB participants. Crucially, higher proportions of NHW SuperAgers had APOE‐ε2 alleles than younger controls (ages<80) and lower proportions had APOE‐ε4 alleles than all controls including age‐matched controls (ages 80+). This work provides the strongest evidence to date that APOE is associated with SuperAging. APOE‐ε2 did not differentiate NHB SuperAgers from controls nor APOE‐ε4 from other oldest‐old adults in present analyses. Future work will extend to whole genome analysis to identify novel genomic drivers of SuperAging.Item Evaluating the association of APOE genotype and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers(medRxiv, 2025-01-07) Durant, Alaina; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Lee, Michael L.; Choi, Seo-Eun; Scollard, Phoebe; Klinedinst, Brandon S.; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Mez, Jesse; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Gifford, Katherine A.; Cruchaga, Carlos; Hassenstab, Jason; Naj, Adam C.; Wang, Li-San; Johnson, Sterling C.; Engelman, Corinne D.; Kukull, Walter A.; Keene, C. Dirk; Saykin, Andrew J.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Kunkle, Brian W.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Martin, Eden R.; Bennett, David A.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Schneider, Julie A.; Bush, William S.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Mayeux, Richard; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Thompson, Paul M.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC); The Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Crane, Paul K.; Dumitrescu, Logan; Archer, Derek B.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineImportance: "SuperAgers" are oldest-old adults (ages 80+) whose memory performance resembles that of adults in their 50s to mid-60s. Factors underlying their exemplary memory are underexplored in large, racially diverse cohorts. Objective: To determine the frequency of APOE genotypes in non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White SuperAgers compared to middle-aged (ages 50-64), old (ages 65-79), and oldest-old (ages 80+) controls and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia cases. Design: This multicohort study selected data from eight longitudinal cohort studies of normal aging and AD. Setting: Variable recruitment criteria and follow-up intervals, including both population-based and clinical-based samples. Participants: Inclusion in our analyses required APOE genotype, that participants be age 50+, and are identified as either non-Hispanic Black or non-Hispanic White. In total, 18,080 participants were included in the present study with a total of 78,549 datapoints. Main outcomes and measures: Harmonized, longitudinal memory, executive function, and language scores were obtained from the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Phenotype Harmonization Consortium (ADSP-PHC). SuperAgers, controls, and AD dementia cases were identified by cognitive scores using a residual approach and clinical diagnoses across multiple timepoints when available. SuperAgers were compared to AD dementia cases and cognitively normal controls using age-defined bins (middle-aged, old, oldest-old). Results: Across racialized groups, SuperAgers had significantly higher proportions of APOE-ε2 alleles and lower proportions of APOE-ε4 alleles compared to cases. Similar differences were observed between SuperAgers and middle-aged and old controls. Non-Hispanic White SuperAgers had significantly lower proportions of APOE-ε4 alleles and significantly higher proportions of APOE-ε2 alleles compared to all cases and controls, including oldest-old controls. In contrast, non-Hispanic Black SuperAgers had significantly lower proportions of APOE-ε4 alleles compared to cases and younger controls, and significantly higher proportions of APOE-ε2 alleles compared only to cases. Conclusions and relevance: In the largest study to date, we demonstrated strong evidence that the frequency of APOE-ε4 and -ε2 alleles differ between non-Hispanic White SuperAgers and AD dementia cases and cognitively normal controls. Differences in the role of APOE in SuperAging by race underlines distinctions in mechanisms conferring resilience across race groups given likely differences in genetic ancestry.Item Genetic and Sex Associations with Earlier Estimated Onset of Amyloid Positivity from over 4000 Harmonized Positron Emission Tomography Images(Wiley, 2025-01-09) Castellano, Tonnar; Wang, Ting Chen; Nolan, Emma; Archer, Derek B.; Cody, Karly; Harrison, Theresa M.; Wu, Yiyang; Durant, Alaina; Janve, Vaibhav A.; Engelman, Corinne D.; Jagust, William J.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Resnick, Susan M.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Bilgel, Murat; Saykin, Andrew J.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Mayeux, Richard; Betthauser, Tobey J.; Dumitrescu, Logan C.; Mormino, Elizabeth; Hohman, Timothy J.; Koran, Mary Ellen I.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineBackground: New techniques have been developed to estimate the age when someone converted to amyloid positivity (EAOA) from PET, oftentimes offering information about a participant decades before they joined a research study. EAOA is variable across populations but we do not know the causes for these differences. This study aims to validate APOE associations with EAOA and explore genetic and sex‐based factors with EAOA. Methods: Data from six cohorts were analyzed. Our analysis included 4220 non‐Hispanic white people (57.6% women; 86.7% cognitively unimpaired at baseline scan). Amyloid PET data were harmonized using gaussian mixture models. EAOA was calculated using the sampled iterative local approximation (SILA) algorithm. Sex differences in EAOA were compared using t‐tests amongst amyloid positive individuals. A genome‐wide association study of EAOA was performed. Gene analyses were conducted using MAGMA. Results: Average EAOA was 81.1 years across all individuals regardless of amyloid status. APOE e2 homozygotes had slightly later EAOA than e3/e3 homozygotes. APOE e4 homozygotes converted to amyloid positivity 8.2 years before e3/e4 heterozygotes and over two decades earlier than e3 homozygotes. APOE e2/e4 converted to positivity roughly three years later than e3/e4 and nearly ten years earlier than e3 homozygotes. APOE genotype differences in EAOA described were statistically significant (p < .01). There were significant sex differences between men and women when examining amyloid positivity. Men converted to amyloid positivity over 2 years later than women (65.3 vs 63.2 years, p=3.23x10‐5). The rs12981369 polymorphism in ABCA7 was associated with EAOA (β = 2.14, p=9.27×10−9). Brain eQTL databases indicate associations between rs12981369 and gene expression of ABCA7. Gene‐level analyses revealed significant associations for ABCA7, HMHA1, and KIF13B. Conclusion: This study further describes the role of APOE and reveals roles for ABCA7 and KIF13B on amyloid onset. We identified a novel variant on chromosome 19 correlating with later amyloid onset conversion and highlight important differences between sexes. These findings highlight EAOA as a powerful endophenotype of AD and offer insights into potential drug‐targetable mechanisms for early AD intervention.Item Novel rare variant associations with late‐life cognitive performance(Wiley, 2025-01-09) Regelson, Alexandra N.; Archer, Derek B.; Durant, Alaina; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Lee, Michael L.; Choi, Seo-Eun; Scollard, Phoebe; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Mez, Jesse; Bush, William S.; Kuzma, Amanda B.; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Cruchaga, Carlos; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Wang, Li-San; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Mayeux, Richard; Kukull, Walter A.; Keene, C. Dirk; Saykin, Andrew J.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Engelman, Corinne D.; Bennett, David A.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Larson, Eric B.; Nho, Kwangsik; Goate, Alison M.; Renton, Alan E.; Marcora, Edoardo; Fulton-Howard, Brian; Patel, Tulsi; Risacher, Shannon L.; DeStefano, Anita L.; Schneider, Julie A.; Habes, Mohamad; Seshadri, Sudha; Satizabal, Claudia L.; Maillard, Pauline; Toga, Arthur W.; Crawford, Karen; Tosun, Duygu; Vance, Jeffery M.; Mormino, Elizabeth; DeCarli, Charles S.; Montine, Thomas J.; Beecham, Gary; Biber, Sarah A.; De Jager, Philip L.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Lee, Annie J.; Brickman, Adam M.; Reitz, Christiane; Manly, Jennifer J.; Lu, Qiongshi; Rentería, Miguel Arce; Deming, Yuetiva; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Crane, Paul K.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Dumitrescu, Logan C.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of MedicineBackground: Despite evidence that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is highly heritable, there remains substantial “missing” heritability, likely due in part to the effect of rare variants and to the past reliance on case‐control analysis. Here, we leverage powerful endophenotypes of AD (cognitive performance across multiple cognitive domains) in a rare variant analysis to identify novel genetic drivers of cognition in aging and disease. Method: We leveraged 8 cohorts of cognitive aging with whole genome sequencing data from the AD Sequencing Project to conduct rare variant analyses of multiple domains of cognition (N = 9,317; mean age = 73; 56% female; 52% cognitively unimpaired). Harmonized scores for memory, executive function, and language were derived using confirmatory factor analysis models. Participants genetically similar to the 1000Genomes EUR reference panel were included in analysis. Variants included in the analysis had a minor allele frequency < 0.01, a minor allele count of ≥ 10, and were annotated as a high or moderate impact SNP using VEP. Associations of baseline scores in each cognitive domain were performed using SKAT‐O, including 92,905 rare variants among 16,243 genes. All tests were adjusted for sex, baseline age, sequencing center and platform, and genetic principal components. Correction for multiple comparisons was completed using the Benjamini‐Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure. Result: APOE was associated with baseline memory, language, and executive function, though only memory survived multiple‐test correction (p.FDR = 0.001). Outside of APOE, ITPKB was associated with baseline executive function (p.FDR = 0.048). AKTIP, SHCBP1L, and CCNF showed nominal associations with multiple domains of cognition that did not survive correction for multiple comparisons (p.FDRs<0.07). Conclusion: These results highlight novel rare variants associated with cognition. IPTKB is an AGORA nominated gene target for potential AD treatment. It is important in the regulation of immune cells and displays higher expression in the cortex of AD patients compared to controls. CCNF and AKTIP are brain eQTLs and have differential RNA expression in AD brains. Previously, variants in AKTIP have been associated with educational attainment, intelligence, and memory, while variants in CCNF have been associated with neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Future analyses will incorporate longitudinal cognition and expand into additional populations.Item Sex and APOE ε4 allele differences in longitudinal white matter microstructure in multiple cohorts of aging and Alzheimer's disease(Wiley, 2025) Peterson, Amalia; Sathe, Aditi; Zaras, Dimitrios; Yang, Yisu; Durant, Alaina; Deters, Kacie D.; Shashikumar, Niranjana; Pechman, Kimberly R.; Kim, Michael E.; Gao, Chenyu; Khairi, Nazirah Mohd; Li, Zhiyuan; Yao, Tianyuan; Huo, Yuankai; Dumitrescu, Logan; Gifford, Katherine A.; Wilson, Jo Ellen; Cambronero, Francis E.; Risacher, Shannon L.; Beason-Held, Lori L.; An, Yang; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; Erus, Guray; Davatzikos, Christos; Tosun, Duygu; Toga, Arthur W.; Thompson, Paul M.; Mormino, Elizabeth C.; Habes, Mohamad; Wang, Di; Zhang, Panpan; Schilling, Kurt; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); BIOCARD Study Team; Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Albert, Marilyn; Kukull, Walter; Biber, Sarah A.; Landman, Bennett A.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Schneider, Julie; Barnes, Lisa L.; Bennett, David A.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Resnick, Susan M.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Archer, Derek B.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineIntroduction: The effects of sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE)-Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk factors-on white matter microstructure are not well characterized. Methods: Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data from nine well-established longitudinal cohorts of aging were free water (FW)-corrected and harmonized. This dataset included 4741 participants (age = 73.06 ± 9.75) with 9671 imaging sessions over time. FW and FW-corrected fractional anisotropy (FAFWcorr) were used to assess differences in white matter microstructure by sex and APOE ε4 carrier status. Results: Sex differences in FAFWcorr in projection tracts and APOE ε4 differences in FW limbic and occipital transcallosal tracts were most pronounced. Discussion: There are prominent differences in white matter microstructure by sex and APOE ε4 carrier status. This work adds to our understanding of disparities in AD. Additional work to understand the etiology of these differences is warranted. Highlights: Sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carrier status relate to white matter microstructural integrity. Females generally have lower free water-corrected fractional anisotropy compared to males. APOE ε4 carriers tended to have higher free water than non-carriers.Item Sex, racial, and APOE-ε4 allele differences in longitudinal white matter microstructure in multiple cohorts of aging and Alzheimer’s disease(bioRxiv, 2024-06-12) Peterson, Amalia; Sathe, Aditi; Zaras, Dimitrios; Yang, Yisu; Durant, Alaina; Deters, Kacie D.; Shashikumar, Niranjana; Pechman, Kimberly R.; Kim, Michael E.; Gao, Chenyu; Khairi, Nazirah Mohd; Li, Zhiyuan; Yao, Tianyuan; Huo, Yuankai; Dumitrescu, Logan; Gifford, Katherine A.; Wilson, Jo Ellen; Cambronero, Francis; Risacher, Shannon L.; Beason-Held, Lori L.; An, Yang; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; Erus, Guray; Davatzikos, Christos; Tosun, Duygu; Toga, Arthur W.; Thompson, Paul M.; Mormino, Elizabeth C.; Zhang, Panpan; Schilling, Kurt; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); BIOCARD Study Team; Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Albert, Marilyn; Kukull, Walter; Biber, Sarah A.; Landman, Bennett A.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Schneider, Julie; Barnes, Lisa L.; Bennett, David A.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Resnick, Susan M.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Archer, Derek B.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineIntroduction: The effects of sex, race, and Apolipoprotein E (APOE) - Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk factors - on white matter integrity are not well characterized. Methods: Diffusion MRI data from nine well-established longitudinal cohorts of aging were free-water (FW)-corrected and harmonized. This dataset included 4,702 participants (age=73.06 ± 9.75) with 9,671 imaging sessions over time. FW and FW-corrected fractional anisotropy (FAFWcorr) were used to assess differences in white matter microstructure by sex, race, and APOE-ε4 carrier status. Results: Sex differences in FAFWcorr in association and projection tracts, racial differences in FAFWcorr in projection tracts, and APOE-ε4 differences in FW limbic and occipital transcallosal tracts were most pronounced. Discussion: There are prominent differences in white matter microstructure by sex, race, and APOE-ε4 carrier status. This work adds to our understanding of disparities in AD. Additional work to understand the etiology of these differences is warranted.Item Sex, racial/ethnic, and APOE‐ε4 allele differences in longitudinal white matter microstructure in multiple cohorts of aging(Wiley, 2025-01-09) Peterson, Amalia Jo; Sathe, Aditi; Yang, Yisu; Durant, Alaina; Shashikumar, Niranjana; Pechman, Kimberly R.; Dumitrescu, Logan C.; Gifford, Katherine A.; Risacher, Shannon L.; Beason-Held, Lori L.; An, Yang; Schilling, Kurt; Landman, Bennett A.; Schneider, Julie A.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Bennett, David A.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Resnick, Susan M.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Archer, Derek B.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineBackground: There is growing recognition that white matter microstructural integrity is affected in Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this study was to characterize sex, racial/ethnic, and apolipoprotein (APOE)‐ε4 allele differences in white matter integrity. Methods: This study included participants from ADNI, BLSA, ROS/MAP/MARS, and VMAP, all longitudinal cohorts of aging. This combined dataset included 6,837 imaging sessions from 2,619 participants age 50+ with diffusion MRI (dMRI) and demographic and clinical data (60% female, 31.4% APOE‐ε4 carriers, 78.9% White). dMRI was preprocessed using the PreQual pipeline. Free‐water (FW) correction was used to generate FW and FW‐corrected intracellular metrics including fractional anisotropy (FAFWcorr), mean diffusivity (MDFWcorr), axial diffusivity (AxDFWcorr), and radial diffusivity (RDFWcorr). Conventional and FW‐corrected metrics were harmonized using the Longitudinal ComBat package. Linear mixed‐effects models related sex, race/ethnicity, and APOE‐ε4 allele status to longitudinal diffusion metrics in 48 white matter tracts, adjusting for age at baseline, sex, education, race/ethnicity, APOE‐ε4 carrier status, cognitive status at baseline, and converter status. All models were corrected for multiple comparisons using the FDR approach. Result: Sex differences in white matter were most notable in projection tracts (Figure 1A) and were primarily in FW‐corrected metrics. Females had lower FAFWcorr and higher RDFWcorr, indicative of worse microstructure, but lower AxDFWcorr. This sex difference was most pronounced for FAFWcorr in the ventral premotor projection tract (p=1.53x10‐62). There were global differences in white matter integrity by race/ethnicity (Figure 1B). Non‐Hispanic White participants tended to have higher conventional FA, FAFWcorr and AxDFWcorr and lower RDFWcorr. There was no association between APOE‐ε4 status and white matter integrity and no significant sex x race/ethnicity, sex x APOE‐ε4, or race/ethnicity x APOE‐ε4 interactions for conventional or FW‐corrected metrics when corrected for multiple comparisons. Conclusion: There were striking sex and racial/ethnic (but not APOE‐ε4) differences in white matter tract integrity in a large cohort of aging adults. Female participants tended to have measures reflective of worse white matter integrity, and non‐Hispanic White participants tended to have measures reflective of greater integrity. Additional research exploring the etiology of these differences will be important to better understand disparities in Alzheimer’s disease.Item Sex-Specific Genetic Drivers of Memory, Executive Functioning, and Language Performance in Older Adults(medRxiv, 2025-06-02) Eissman, Jaclyn M.; Regelson, Alexandra N.; Walters, Skylar; Archer, Derek B.; Durant, Alaina; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Lee, Michael L.; Choi, Seo-Eun; Scollard, Phoebe; Trittschuh, Emily H.; Mez, Jesse; Kang, Moonil; Bush, William S.; Kunkle, Brian W.; Naj, Adam C.; Gifford, Katherine A.; Bilgel, Murat; Kuzma, Amanda B.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC); Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Cuccaro, Michael L.; Cruchaga, Carlos; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Wang, Li-San; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Mayeux, Richard; Haines, Jonathan L.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Kukull, Walter A.; Keene, C. Dirk; Saykin, Andrew J.; Thompson, Paul M.; Martin, Eden R.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Engelman, Corinne D.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Bennett, David A.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Schneider, Julie A.; Resnick, Susan M.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Crane, Paul K.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Dumitrescu, Logan; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineWe previously identified sex-specific genetic loci associated with memory performance, a strong Alzheimer's disease (AD) endophenotype. Here, we expand on this work by conducting sex-specific, cross-ancestral, genome-wide meta-analyses of three cognitive domains (memory, executive functioning, and language) in 33,918 older adults (57% female; 41% cognitively impaired; mean age=73 years) from 10 aging and AD cohorts. All three domains were comparably heritable across sexes. Genome-wide meta-analyses identified three novel loci: a female-specific language decline-associated locus, VRK2 (rs13387871), which is a published candidate for neuropsychiatric traits involving language ability; a male-specific memory decline-associated locus among cognitive impaired, DCHS2 (rs12501200), which is a published candidate gene for AD age-at-onset; and a sex-interaction with baseline executive functioning, AGA (rs1380012), among cognitive impaired. We additionally provide evidence for shared genetic architecture between lifetime estrogen exposure and AD-related cognitive decline. Overall, we identified sex-specific variants, genes, and pathways relating to three cognitive domains among older adults.Item The effect of Alzheimer's disease genetic factors on limbic white matter microstructure(Wiley, 2025) Lorenz, Anna; Sathe, Aditi; Zaras, Dimitrios; Yang, Yisu; Durant, Alaina; Kim, Michael E.; Gao, Chenyu; Newlin, Nancy R.; Ramadass, Karthik; Kanakaraj, Praitayini; Khairi, Nazirah Mohd; Li, Zhiyuan; Yao, Tianyuan; Huo, Yuankai; Dumitrescu, Logan; Shashikumar, Niranjana; Pechman, Kimberly R.; Jackson, Trevor Bryan; Workmeister, Abigail W.; Risacher, Shannon L.; Beason-Held, Lori L.; An, Yang; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; Erus, Guray; Davatzikos, Christos; Habes, Mohamad; Wang, Di; Tosun, Duygu; Toga, Arthur W.; Thompson, Paul M.; Mormino, Elizabeth C.; Zhang, Panpan; Schilling, Kurt; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)The BIOCARD Study Team; The Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP); Albert, Marilyn; Kukull, Walter; Biber, Sarah A.; Landman, Bennett A.; Johnson, Sterling C.; Bendlin, Barbara; Schneider, Julie; Barnes, Lisa L.; Bennett, David A.; Jefferson, Angela L.; Resnick, Susan M.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Archer, Derek B.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of MedicineIntroduction: White matter (WM) microstructure is essential for brain function but deteriorates with age and in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Diffusion MRI, enhanced by advanced bi-tensor models accounting for free water (FW), enables in vivo quantification of WM microstructural differences. Methods: To evaluate how AD genetic risk factors affect limbic WM microstructure - crucial for memory and early impacted in disease - we conducted linear regression analyses in a cohort of 2,614 non-Hispanic White aging adults (aged 50.12 to 100.85 years). The study evaluated 36 AD risk variants across 26 genes, the association between AD polygenic scores (PGSs) and WM metrics, and interactions with cognitive status. Results: AD PGSs, variants in TMEM106B, PTK2B, WNT3, and apolipoprotein E (APOE), and interactions involving MS4A6A were significantly linked to WM microstructure. Discussion: These findings implicate AD-related genetic factors related to neurodevelopment (WNT3), lipid metabolism (APOE), and inflammation (TMEM106B, PTK2B, MS4A6A) that contribute to alternations in WM microstructure in older adults. Highlights: AD risk variants in TMEM106B, PTK2B, WNT3, and APOE genes showed distinct associations with limbic FW-corrected WM microstructure metrics. Interaction effects were observed between MS4A6A variants and cognitive status. PGS for AD was associated with higher FW content in the limbic system.