Browsing by Author "Kramer, Joel H."

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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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    Baseline neuropsychiatric symptoms and psychotropic medication use midway through data collection of the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS) cohort
    (Wiley, 2023) Polsinelli, Angelina J.; Wonderlin, Ryan J.; Hammers, Dustin B.; Pena Garcia, Alex; Eloyan, Anii; Taurone, Alexander; Thangarajah, Maryanne; Beckett, Laurel; Gao, Sujuan; Wang, Sophia; Kirby, Kala; Logan, Paige E.; Aisen, Paul; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Foroud, Tatiana; Griffin, Percy; Iaccarino, Leonardo; Kramer, Joel H.; Koeppe, Robert; Kukull, Walter A.; La Joie, Renaud; Mundada, Nidhi S.; Murray, Melissa E.; Nudelman, Kelly; Soleimani-Meigooni, David N.; Rumbaugh, Malia; Toga, Arthur W.; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Atri, Alireza; Day, Gregory S.; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Honig, Lawrence S.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph; Mendez, Mario F.; Womack, Kyle; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily; Salloway, Steven; Sha, Sharon J.; Turner, Raymond S.; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Apostolova, Liana G.; LEADS Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: We examined neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and psychotropic medication use in a large sample of individuals with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD; onset 40-64 years) at the midway point of data collection for the Longitudinal Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS). Methods: Baseline NPS (Neuropsychiatric Inventory - Questionnaire; Geriatric Depression Scale) and psychotropic medication use from 282 participants enrolled in LEADS were compared across diagnostic groups - amyloid-positive EOAD (n = 212) and amyloid negative early-onset non-Alzheimer's disease (EOnonAD; n = 70). Results: Affective behaviors were the most common NPS in EOAD at similar frequencies to EOnonAD. Tension and impulse control behaviors were more common in EOnonAD. A minority of participants were using psychotropic medications, and use was higher in EOnonAD. Discussion: Overall NPS burden and psychotropic medication use were higher in EOnonAD than EOAD participants. Future research will investigate moderators and etiological drivers of NPS, and NPS differences in EOAD versus late-onset AD. Keywords: early-onset Alzheimer's disease; early-onset dementia; mild cognitive impairment; neuropharmacology; neuropsychiatric symptoms; psychotropic medications.
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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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    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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    Development and validation of a harmonized memory score for multicenter Alzheimer's disease and related dementia research
    (medRxiv, 2025-04-03) Sanderson-Cimino, Mark; Gross, Alden L.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; Paolillo, Emily W.; Saloner, Rowan; Albert, Marilyn S.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Boersema, Brooke; Boxer, Adam L.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Casaletto, Kaitlin B.; Hallgarth, Savannah R.; Diaz, Valentina E.; Clark, Lindsay R.; Maillard, Pauline; Eloyan, Ani; Tomaszewski Farias, Sarah; Gonzales, Mitzi M.; Hammers, Dustin B.; La Joie, Renaud; Cobigo, Yann; Wolf, Amy; Hampstead, Benjamin M.; Mechanic-Hamilton, Dawn; Miller, Bruce L.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Ringman, John M.; Rosen, Howie J.; Ryman, Sephira G.; Prestopnik, Jillian L.; Salmon, David P.; Smith, Glenn E.; DeCarli, Charles; Rajan, Kumar B.; Jin, Lee-Way; Hinman, Jason; Johnson, David K.; Harvey, Danielle; Fornage, Myriam; Kramer, Joel H.; Staffaroni, Adam M.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: List-learning tasks are important for characterizing memory in ADRD research, but the Uniform Data Set neuropsychological battery (UDS-NB) lacks a list-learning paradigm; thus, sites administer a range of tests. We developed a harmonized memory composite that incorporates UDS memory tests and multiple list-learning tasks. Methods: Item-banking confirmatory factor analysis was applied to develop a memory composite in a diagnostically heterogenous sample (n=5943) who completed the UDS-NB and one of five list-learning tasks. Construct validity was evaluated through associations with demographics, disease severity, cognitive tasks, brain volume, and plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau181 and p-tau217). Test-retest reliability was assessed. Analyses were replicated in a racially/ethnically diverse cohort (n=1058). Results: Fit indices, loadings, distributions, and test-retest reliability were adequate. Expected associations with demographics and clinical measures within development and validation cohorts supported validity. Discussion: This composite enables researchers to incorporate multiple list-learning tasks with other UDS measures to create a single metric.
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    Dissociable spatial topography of cortical atrophy in early‐onset and late‐onset Alzheimer's disease: A head‐to‐head comparison of the LEADS and ADNI cohorts
    (Wiley, 2025) Katsumi, Yuta; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Brickhouse, Michael; Eloyan, Ani; Eckbo, Ryan; Zaitsev, Alexander; La Joie, Renaud; Lagarde, Julien; Schonhaut, Daniel; Thangarajah, Maryanne; Taurone, Alexander; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Jack, Clifford R., Jr.; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Nudelman, Kelly N. H.; Foroud, Tatiana; Hammers, Dustin B.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Murray, Melissa E.; Newell, Kathy L.; Polsinelli, Angelina J.; Aisen, Paul; Reman, Rema; Beckett, Laurel; Kramer, Joel H.; Atri, Alireza; Day, Gregory S.; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Grant, Ian M.; Honig, Lawrence S.; Johnson, Erik C. B.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph C.; Mendez, Mario F.; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily; Salloway, Stephen; Sha, Sharon; Turner, R. Scott; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Womack, Kyle; Carrillo, Maria C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; LEADS Consortium for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: Early-onset and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD and LOAD, respectively) have distinct clinical manifestations, with prior work based on small samples suggesting unique patterns of neurodegeneration. The current study performed a head-to-head comparison of cortical atrophy in EOAD and LOAD, using two large and well-characterized cohorts (LEADS and ADNI). Methods: We analyzed brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data acquired from 377 sporadic EOAD patients and 317 sporadicLOAD patients who were amyloid positive and had mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia (i.e., early-stage AD), along with cognitively unimpaired participants. Results: After controlling for the level of cognitive impairment, we found a double dissociation between AD clinical phenotype and localization/magnitude of atrophy, characterized by predominant neocortical involvement in EOAD and more focal anterior medial temporal involvement in LOAD. Discussion: Our findings point to the clinical utility of MRI-based biomarkers of atrophy in differentiating between EOAD and LOAD, which may be useful for diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment. Highlights: Early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD) patients showed distinct and overlapping cortical atrophy patterns. EOAD patients showed prominent atrophy in widespread neocortical regions. LOAD patients showed prominent atrophy in the anterior medial temporal lobe. Regional atrophy was correlated with the severity of global cognitive impairment. Results were comparable when the sample was stratified for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.
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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.
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    Genetic meta-analysis of diagnosed Alzheimer's disease identifies new risk loci and implicates Aβ, tau, immunity and lipid processing
    (Springer Nature, 2019-03) Kunkle, Brian W.; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Sims, Rebecca; Bis, Joshua C.; Damotte, Vincent; Naj, Adam C.; Boland, Anne; Vronskaya, Maria; van der Lee, Sven J.; Amlie-Wolf, Alexandre; Bellenguez, Céline; Frizatti, Aura; Chouraki, Vincent; Martin, Eden R.; Sleegers, Kristel; Badarinarayan, Nandini; Jakobsdottir, Johanna; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L.; Moreno-Grau, Sonia; Olaso, Robert; Raybould, Rachel; Chen, Yuning; Kuzma, Amanda B.; Hiltunen, Mikko; Morgan, Taniesha; Ahmad, Shahzad; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Epelbaum, Jacques; Hoffmann, Per; Boada, Merce; Beecham, Gary W.; Garnier, Jean-Guillaume; Harold, Denise; Fitzpatrick, Annette L.; Valladares, Otto; Moutet, Marie-Laure; Gerrish, Amy; Smith, Albert V.; Qu, Liming; Bacq, Delphine; Denning, Nicola; Jian, Xueqiu; Zhao, Yi; Del Zompo, Maria; Fox, Nick C.; Choi, Seung-Hoan; Mateo, Ignacio; Hughes, Joseph T.; Adams, Hieab H.; Malamon, John; Sanchez-Garcia, Florentino; Patel, Yogen; Brody, Jennifer A.; Dombroski, Beth A.; Deniz Naranjo, Maria Candida; Daniilidou, Makrina; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Wallon, David; Uphill, James; Aspelund, Thor; Cantwell, Laura B.; Garzia, Fabienne; Galimberti, Daniela; Hofer, Edith; Butkiewicz, Mariusz; Fin, Bertrand; Scarpini, Elio; Sarnowski, Chloe; Bush, Will S.; Meslage, Stéphane; Kornhuber, Johannes; White, Charles C.; Song, Yuenjoo; Barber, Robert C.; Engelborghs, Sebastiaan; Sordon, Sabrina; Voijnovic, Dina; Adams, Perrie M.; Vandenberghe, Rik; Mayhaus, Manuel; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Albert, Marilyn S.; De Deyn, Peter P.; Gu, Wei; Himali, Jayanadra J.; Beekly, Duane; Squassina, Alessio; Hartmann, Annette M.; Orellana, Adelina; Blacker, Deborah; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Eloy; Lovestone, Simon; Garcia, Melissa E.; Doody, Rachelle S.; Munoz-Fernadez, Carmen; Sussams, Rebecca; Lin, Honghuang; Fairchild, Thomas J.; Benit, Yolanda A.; Holmes, Clive; Karamujić-Čomić, Hata; Frosch, Matthew P.; Thonberg, Hakan; Maier, Wolfgang; Roshchupkin, Gennady; Ghetti, Bernardino; Giedraitis, Vilmantas; Kawalia, Amit; Li, Shuo; Huebinger, Ryan M.; Kilander, Lena; Moebus, Susanne; Hernández, Isabel; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Brundin, RoseMarie; Turton, James; Yang, Qiong; Katz, Mindy J.; Concari, Letizia; Lord, Jenny; Beiser, Alexa S.; Keene, C. Dirk; Helisalmi, Seppo; Kloszewska, Iwona; Kukull, Walter A.; Koivisto, Anne Maria; Lynch, Aoibhinn; Tarraga, Lluís; Larson, Eric B.; Haapasalo, Annakaisa; Lawlor, Brian; Mosley, Thomas H.; Lipton, Richard B.; Solfrizzi, Vincenzo; Gill, Michael; Longstreth, W. T., Jr.; Montine, Thomas J.; Frisardi, Vincenza; Diez-Fairen, Monica; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Petersen, Ronald C.; Deramecourt, Vincent; Alvarez, Ignacio; Salani, Francesca; Ciaramella, Antonio; Boerwinkle, Eric; Reiman, Eric M.; Fievet, Nathalie; Rotter, Jerome I.; Reisch, Joan S.; Hanon, Olivier; Cupidi, Chiara; Uitterlinden, A. G. Andre; Royall, Donald R.; Dufouil, Carole; Maletta, Raffaele Giovanni; de Rojas, Itziar; Sano, Mary; Brice, Alexis; Cecchetti, Roberta; St. George-Hyslop, Peter; Ritchie, Karen; Tsolaki, Magda; Tsuang, Debby W.; Dubois, Bruno; Craig, David; Wu, Chuang-Kuo; Soininen, Hilkka; Avramidou, Despoina; Albin, Roger L.; Fratiglioni, Laura; Germanou, Antonia; Apostolova, Liana G.; Keller, Lina; Koutroumani, Maria; Arnold, Steven E.; Panza, Francesco; Gkatzima, Olymbia; Asthana, Sanjay; Hannequin, Didier; Whitehead, Patrice; Atwood, Craig S.; Caffarra, Paolo; Hampel, Harald; Quintela, Inés; Carracedo, Ángel; Lannfelt, Lars; Rubinsztein, David C.; Barnes, Lisa L.; Pasquier, Florence; Frölich, Lutz; Barral, Sandra; McGuinness, Bernadette; Beach, Thomas G .; Johnston, Janet A.; Becker, James T.; Passmore, Peter; Bigio, Eileen H.; Schott, Jonathan M.; Bird, Thomas D.; Warren, Jason D.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Lupton, Michelle K.; Bowen, James D.; Proitsi, Petra; Boxer, Adam; Powell, John F.; Burke, James R.; Kauwe, John S.K.; Burns, Jeffrey M.; Mancuso, Michelangelo; Buxbaum, Joseph D.; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo; Cairns, Nigel J.; McQuillin, Andrew; Cao, Chuanhai; Livingston, Gill; Carlson, Chris S.; Bass, Nicholas J.; Carlsson, Cynthia M.; Hardy, John; Carney, Regina M.; Bras, Jose; Carrasquillo, Minerva M.; Guerreiro, Rita; Allen, Mariet; Chui, Helena C.; Fisher, Elizabeth; Masullo, Carlo; Crocco, Elizabeth A.; DeCarli, Charles; Bisceglio, Gina; Dick, Malcolm; Ma, Li; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Evans, Denis A.; Hodges, Angela; Faber, Kelley M.; Scherer, Martin; Fallon, Kenneth B.; Riemenschneider, Matthias; Fardo, David W.; Heun, Reinhard; Farlow, Martin R.; Kölsch, Heike; Ferris, Steven; Leber, Markus; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Heuser, Isabella; Galasko, Douglas R.; Giegling, Ina; Gearing, Marla; Hüll, Michael; Geschwind, Daniel H.; Gilbert, John R.; Morris, John; Green, Robert C.; Mayo, Kevin; Growdon, John H.; Feulner, Thomas; Hamilton, Ronald L.; Harrell, Lindy E.; Drichel, Dmitriy; Honig, Lawrence S.; Cushion, Thomas D.; Huentelman, Matthew J.; Hollingworth, Paul; Hulette, Christine M.; Hyman, Bradley T.; Marshall, Rachel; Jarvik, Gail P.; Meggy, Alun; Abner, Erin; Menzies, Georgina E.; Jin, Lee-Way; Leonenko, Ganna; Real, Luis M.; Jun, Gyungah R.; Baldwin, Clinton T.; Grozeva, Detelina; Karydas, Anna; Russo, Giancarlo; Kaye, Jeffrey A.; Kim, Ronald; Jessen, Frank; Kowall, Neil W.; Vellas, Bruno; Kramer, Joel H.; Vardy, Emma; LaFerla, Frank M.; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Lah, James J.; Dichgans, Martin; Leverenz, James B.; Mann, David; Levey, Allan I.; Pickering-Brown, Stuart; Lieberman, Andrew P.; Klopp, Norman; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Wichmann, H-Erich; Lyketsos, Constantine G.; Morgan, Kevin; Marson, Daniel C.; Brown, Kristelle; Martiniuk, Frank; Medway, Christopher; Mash, Deborah C.; Nöthen, Markus M.; Masliah, Eliezer; Hooper, Nigel M.; McCormick, Wayne C.; Daniele, Antonio; McCurry, Susan M.; Bayer, Anthony; McDavid, Andrew N.; Gallacher, John; McKee, Ann C.; van den Bussche, Hendrik; Mesulam, Marsel; Brayne, Carol; Miller, Bruce L.; Riedel-Heller, Steffi; Miller, Carol A.; Miller, Joshua W.; Al-Chalabi, Ammar; Morris, John C.; Shaw, Christopher E.; Myers, Amanda J.; Wiltfang, Jens; O'Bryant, Sid; Olichney, John M.; Alvarez, Victoria; Parisi, Joseph E.; Singleton, Andrew B.; Paulson, Henry L.; Collinge, John; Perry, William R.; Mead, Simon; Peskind, Elaine; Cribbs, David H.; Rossor, Martin; Pierce, Aimee; Ryan, Natalie S.; Poon, Wayne W.; Nacmias, Benedetta; Potter, Huntington; Sorbi, Sandro; Quinn, Joseph F.; Sacchinelli, Eleonora; Raj, Ashok; Spalletta, Gianfranco; Raskind, Murray; Caltagirone, Carlo; Bossù, Paola; Orfei, Maria Donata; Reisberg, Barry; Clarke, Robert; Reitz, Christiane; Smith, A. David; Ringman, John M.; Warden, Donald; Roberson, Erik D.; Wilcock, Gordon; Rogaeva, Ekaterina; Bruni, Amalia Cecilia; Rosen, Howard J.; Gallo, Maura; Rosenberg, R.N.; Ben-Shlomo, Yoav; Sager, Mark A.; Mecocci, Patrizia; Saykin, Andrew J.; Pastor, Pau; Cuccaro, Michael L.; Vance, Jeffery M.; Schneider, Julie A.; Schneider, Lori S.; Slifer, Susan; Seeley, William W.; Smith, Amanda G.; Sonnen, Joshua A.; Spina, Salvatore; Stern, Robert A.; Swerdlow, Russell H.; Tang, Mitchell; Tanzi, Rudolph E.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Troncoso, Juan C.; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M.; Van Eldik, Linda J.; Vinters, Harry V.; Vonsattel, Jean Paul; Weintraub, Sandra; Welsh-Bohmer, Kathleen A.; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C.; Williamson, Jennifer; Wingo, Thomas S.; Woltjer, Randall L.; Wright, Clinton B.; Yu, Chang-En; Yu, Lei; Saba, Yasaman; Pilotto, Alberto; Bullido, Maria J.; Peters, Oliver; Crane, Paul K.; Bennett, David; Bosco, Paola; Coto, Eliecer; Boccardi, Virginia; De Jager, Phil L.; Lleo, Alberto; Warner, Nick; Lopez, Oscar L.; Ingelsson, Martin; Deloukas, Panagiotis; Cruchaga, Carlos; Graff, Caroline; Gwilliam, Rhian; Fornage, Myriam; Goate, Alison M.; Sanchez-Juan, Pascual; Kehoe, Patrick G.; Amin, Najaf; Ertekin-Taner, Nilifur; Berr, Claudine; Debette, Stéphanie; Love, Seth; Launer, Lenore J.; Younkin, Steven G.; Dartigues, Jean-Francois; Corcoran, Chris; Ikram, M. Arfan; Dickson, Dennis W.; Nicolas, Gael; Campion, Dominique; Tschanz, JoAnn; Schmidt, Helena; Hakonarson, Hakon; Clarimon, Jordi; Munger, Ron; Schmidt, Reinhold; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; O'Donovan, Michael C.; DeStefano, Anita L.; Jones, Lesley; Haines, Jonathan L.; Deleuze, Jean-Francois; Owen, Michael J.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Mayeux, Richard; Escott-Price, Valentina; Psaty, Bruce M.; Ramirez, Alfredo; Wang, Li-San; Ruiz, Agustin; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Holmans, Peter A.; Seshadri, Sudha; Williams, Julie; Amouyel, Phillippe; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Risk for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), the most prevalent dementia, is partially driven by genetics. To identify LOAD risk loci, we performed a large genome-wide association meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed LOAD (94,437 individuals). We confirm 20 previous LOAD risk loci and identify five new genome-wide loci (IQCK, ACE, ADAM10, ADAMTS1, and WWOX), two of which (ADAM10, ACE) were identified in a recent genome-wide association (GWAS)-by-familial-proxy of Alzheimer's or dementia. Fine-mapping of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region confirms the neurological and immune-mediated disease haplotype HLA-DR15 as a risk factor for LOAD. Pathway analysis implicates immunity, lipid metabolism, tau binding proteins, and amyloid precursor protein (APP) metabolism, showing that genetic variants affecting APP and Aβ processing are associated not only with early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease but also with LOAD. Analyses of risk genes and pathways show enrichment for rare variants (P = 1.32 × 10-7), indicating that additional rare variants remain to be identified. We also identify important genetic correlations between LOAD and traits such as family history of dementia and education.
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    Heterogeneous clinical phenotypes of sporadic early-onset Alzheimer's disease: a neuropsychological data-driven approach
    (Springer Nature, 2025-02-06) Putcha, Deepti; Katsumi, Yuta; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Eloyan, Ani; Taurone, Alexander; Thangarajah, Maryanne; Aisen, Paul; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Foroud, Tatiana; Jack, Clifford R., Jr.; Kramer, Joel H.; Nudelman, Kelly N. H.; Raman, Rema; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Atri, Alireza; Day, Gregory S.; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Grant, Ian M.; Honig, Lawrence S.; Johnson, Erik C. B.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph C.; Mendez, Mario F.; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily; Salloway, Stephen; Sha, Sharon; Turner, R. Scott; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Womack, Kyle; Carrillo, Maria C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Hammers, Dustin B.; LEADS Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: The clinical presentations of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) and late-onset Alzheimer's disease are distinct, with EOAD having a more aggressive disease course with greater heterogeneity. Recent publications from the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS) described EOAD as predominantly amnestic, though this phenotypic description was based solely on clinical judgment. To better understand the phenotypic range of EOAD presentation, we applied a neuropsychological data-driven method to subtype the LEADS cohort. Methods: Neuropsychological test performance from 169 amyloid-positive EOAD participants were analyzed. Education-corrected normative comparisons were made using a sample of 98 cognitively normal participants. Comparing the relative levels of impairment between each cognitive domain, we applied a cut-off of 1 SD below all other domain scores to indicate a phenotype of "predominant" impairment in a given cognitive domain. Individuals were otherwise considered to have multidomain impairment. Whole-cortex general linear modeling of cortical atrophy was applied as an MRI-based validation of these distinct clinical phenotypes. Results: We identified 6 phenotypic subtypes of EOAD: Dysexecutive Predominant (22% of sample), Amnestic Predominant (11%), Language Predominant (11%), Visuospatial Predominant (15%), Mixed Amnestic/Dysexecutive Predominant (11%), and Multidomain (30%). These phenotypes did not differ by age, sex, or years of education. The APOE ɛ4 genotype was enriched in the Amnestic Predominant group, who were also rated as least impaired. Cortical thickness analysis validated these clinical phenotypes with dissociations in atrophy patterns observed between the Dysexecutive and Amnestic Predominant groups. In contrast to the heterogeneity observed from our neuropsychological data-driven approach, diagnostic classifications for this same sample based solely on clinical judgment indicated that 82% of individuals were amnestic-predominant, 9% were non-amnestic, 4% met criteria for Posterior Cortical Atrophy, and 5% met criteria for Primary Progressive Aphasia. Conclusion: A neuropsychological data-driven method to phenotype EOAD individuals uncovered a more detailed understanding of the presenting heterogeneity in this atypical AD sample compared to clinical judgment alone. Clinicians and patients may over-report memory dysfunction at the expense of non-memory symptoms. These findings have important implications for diagnostic accuracy and treatment considerations.