Browsing by Author "La Joie, Renaud"

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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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    Amyloid and tau-PET in early-onset AD: Baseline data from the Longitudinal Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS)
    (Wiley, 2023) Cho, Hanna; Mundada, Nidhi S.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Shankar, Ranjani; Amuiri, Alinda N.; Zeltzer, Ehud; Windon, Charles C.; Soleimani-Meigooni, David N.; Tanner, Jeremy A.; Heath, Courtney Lawhn; Lesman-Segev, Orit H.; Aisen, Paul; Eloyan, Ani; Lee, Hye Sun; Hammers, Dustin B.; Kirby, Kala; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Fagan, Anne; Foroud, Tatiana; Grinberg, Lea T.; Jack, Clifford R.; Kramer, Joel; Kukull, Walter A.; Murray, Melissa E.; Nudelman, Kelly; Toga, Arthur; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Atri, Alireza; Day, Gregory S.; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Honig, Lawrence S.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph; Mendez, Mario; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily J.; Salloway, Stephen; Sha, Sharon; Turner, Raymond Scott; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Koeppe, Robert; Iaccarino, Leonardo; Dickerson, Bradford C.; La Joie, Renaud; Rabinovici, Gil D.; LEADS Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: We aimed to describe baseline amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau-positron emission tomograrphy (PET) from Longitudinal Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS), a prospective multi-site observational study of sporadic early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). Methods: We analyzed baseline [18F]Florbetaben (Aβ) and [18F]Flortaucipir (tau)-PET from cognitively impaired participants with a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD dementia aged < 65 years. Florbetaben scans were used to distinguish cognitively impaired participants with EOAD (Aβ+) from EOnonAD (Aβ-) based on the combination of visual read by expert reader and image quantification. Results: 243/321 (75.7%) of participants were assigned to the EOAD group based on amyloid-PET; 231 (95.1%) of them were tau-PET positive (A+T+). Tau-PET signal was elevated across cortical regions with a parietal-predominant pattern, and higher burden was observed in younger and female EOAD participants. Discussion: LEADS data emphasizes the importance of biomarkers to enhance diagnostic accuracy in EOAD. The advanced tau-PET binding at baseline might have implications for therapeutic strategies in patients with EOAD. Highlights: 72% of patients with clinical EOAD were positive on both amyloid- and tau-PET. Amyloid-positive patients with EOAD had high tau-PET signal across cortical regions. In EOAD, tau-PET mediated the relationship between amyloid-PET and MMSE. Among EOAD patients, younger onset and female sex were associated with higher tau-PET.
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    Amyloid‐PET in patients with a clinical diagnosis of sporadic early‐ versus late‐onset AD: comparison of the LEADS and ADNI cohorts
    (Wiley, 2025-01-09) Lagarde, Julien; Maiti, Piyush; Schonhaut, Daniel R.; Zhang, Jiaxiuxiu; Soleimani-meigooni, David N.; Zeltzer, Ehud; Windon, Charles; Raya, Maison Abu; Vrillon, Agathe; Hammers, Dustin B.; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Nudelman, Kelly N.; Eloyan, Ani; Koeppe, Robert A.; Landau, Susan M.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; La Joie, Renaud; LEADS Consortium, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: Large‐scale studies comparing sporadic early‐onset AD (EOAD, age<65) and late‐onset AD (LOAD, age≥65) are lacking. We compared amyloid‐PET outcomes (positivity rate and amyloid burden) between patients clinically diagnosed with sporadic EOAD vs LOAD, leveraging data from the Longitudinal Early‐Onset AD Study (LEADS) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 3 (ADNI3). Method: 731 patients meeting the 2011 NIA‐AA criteria for AD dementia or MCI were included (505 early‐onset from LEADS, 226 late‐onset from ADNI3, Table 1). All participants underwent amyloid‐PET with [18F]Florbetaben or [18F]Florbetapir. Amyloid positivity was centrally determined by a process involving a visual read by a trained expert and PET‐only quantification; in case of a discrepancy, a read from an independent physician acted as a tiebreaker. Logistic regressions in each cohort examined relations between amyloid positivity and age, sex, MMSE and APOE4 genotype. Amyloid burden was independently quantified in Centiloids using an MRI‐based pipeline. Mean Centiloids in LEADS and ADNI were compared with two‐way ANOVA, for visually positive and visually negative scans. Result: Amyloid positivity rate was higher in LEADS (76%) than ADNI (64%, p<0.001, Figure 1A). Lower MMSE and APOE4 genotype increased odds of amyloid positivity in both cohorts, although the APOE4 effect was stronger in ADNI than LEADS (OR=10.1 versus 2.4, p=0.007, Table 2). Amyloid positivity was more common in females across cohorts, but this effect was only statistically significant in LEADS (Table 2). Centiloids were bimodally distributed in both cohorts, although the separation between positive and negative scans was more prominent in LEADS (Figure 1B). Visually positive scans had significantly higher Centiloids in LEADS than in ADNI, whereas no cohort difference was observed for visually negative scans (Figure 1C). Sensitivity analyses showed that this effect was driven by patients with MCI (CDR≤0.5; Figure 1D‐E). Conclusion: The lower amyloid positivity rate in ADNI might be due to AD‐mimicking pathologies being more common at an older age. The higher amyloid burden in early‐onset, amyloid‐positive patients could reflect younger patients being diagnosed later in the disease course compared to typical, late‐onset patients. Alternatively, younger patients might tolerate higher neuropathology burden due to higher brain reserve or fewer co‐pathologies.
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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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    Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in the Longitudinal Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease Study
    (Wiley, 2023) Dage, Jeffrey L.; Eloyan, Ani; Thangarajah, Maryanne; Hammers, Dustin B.; Fagan, Anne M.; Gray, Julia D.; Schindler, Suzanne E.; Snoddy, Casey; Nudelman, Kelly N. H.; Faber, Kelley M.; Foroud, Tatiana; Aisen, Paul; Griffin, Percy; Grinberg, Lea T.; Iaccarino, Leonardo; Kirby, Kala; Kramer, Joel; Koeppe, Robert; Kukull, Walter A.; La Joie, Renaud; Mundada, Nidhi S.; Murray, Melissa E.; Rumbaugh, Malia; Soleimani-Meigooni, David N.; Toga, Arthur W.; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Atri, Alireza; Beckett, Laurel A.; Day, Gregory S.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Duara, Ranjan; Honig, Lawrence S.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph C.; Mendez, Mario F.; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily; Salloway, Stephen; Sha, Sharon J.; Turner, Raymond S.; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Womack, Kyle B.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Apostolova, Liana G.; LEADS Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Introduction: One goal of the Longitudinal Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS) is to define the fluid biomarker characteristics of early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of Aβ1-40, Aβ1-42, total tau (tTau), pTau181, VILIP-1, SNAP-25, neurogranin (Ng), neurofilament light chain (NfL), and YKL-40 were measured by immunoassay in 165 LEADS participants. The associations of biomarker concentrations with diagnostic group and standard cognitive tests were evaluated. Results: Biomarkers were correlated with one another. Levels of CSF Aβ42/40, pTau181, tTau, SNAP-25, and Ng in EOAD differed significantly from cognitively normal and early-onset non-AD dementia; NfL, YKL-40, and VILIP-1 did not. Across groups, all biomarkers except SNAP-25 were correlated with cognition. Within the EOAD group, Aβ42/40, NfL, Ng, and SNAP-25 were correlated with at least one cognitive measure. Discussion: This study provides a comprehensive analysis of CSF biomarkers in sporadic EOAD that can inform EOAD clinical trial design.
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    Characterization of the heterogeneity of amyloid‐PET‐negative patients with a clinical diagnosis of sporadic early‐onset AD: an FDG‐PET study in the LEADS cohort
    (Wiley, 2025-01-09) Lagarde, Julien; Schonhaut, Daniel R.; Maiti, Piyush; Zhang, Jiaxiuxiu; Soleimani-Meigooni, David N.; Zeltzer, Ehud; Windon, Charles; Hammers, Dustin B.; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Nudelman, Kelly N.; Eloyan, Ani; Koeppe, Robert A.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; La Joie, Renaud; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background Diagnosing sporadic early‐onset AD (EOAD, age‐at‐onset<65) is challenging: in the multi‐center Longitudinal Early‐onset Alzheimer’s Disease Study, ∼25% of patients with clinically diagnosed EOAD are amyloid‐PET‐negative. Here we used FDG‐PET to characterize the heterogeneity of hypometabolic profiles in these patients and better identify underlying etiologies. Method Seventy‐four amyloid‐PET‐negative patients with clinical diagnosis of sporadic EOAD (MCI or mild dementia stage) underwent FDG‐PET. Patients were classified as having normal or hypometabolic FDG‐PET based on a data‐driven approach that compared each patient to a group of 61 age‐matched amyloid‐PET‐negative controls using 12 methodological combinations (3 reference regions, 2 voxel‐level thresholds, 2 outlier detection methods). We then assessed clinical and demographic differences between patients with normal versus hypometabolic FDG‐PET, and further compared groups using independent biomarkers of neurodegeneration (structural MRI and fluid biomarkers). Finally, we applied hierarchical clustering to hypometabolic FDG‐PET scans to identify patterns of hypometabolism. Result Thirty‐six amyloid‐negative patients (49%) had hypometabolic FDG‐PET scans. They were older and more severely impaired across most cognitive domains than patients with normal FDG‐PET (Table 1). They also had reduced hippocampal volumes and cortical thickness (Figure 1A), higher plasma and CSF neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels, and elevated plasma GFAP compared to patients with normal FDG‐PET (Figure 1B). In contrast, the latter, who had intermediate cognitive scores between hypometabolic patients and controls, had MRI and fluid biomarker levels in the range of controls (Figure 1). In hypometabolic patients, hierarchical clustering identified four profiles: i) anterior temporal extending to temporo‐parietal and frontal regions (n = 5), ii) anterior temporal and orbitofrontal (n = 11), iii) occipito‐parietal (n = 6), and iv) lateral frontal and parietal (n = 14) (Figure 2). Genetic testing identified two patients with Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD)‐associated pathogenic variants, both considered hypometabolic and assigned to the first (MAPT) and second (c9orf72) metabolic profiles. Conclusion Fifty‐one percent of amyloid‐negative patients had normal FDG‐PET: they had milder clinical impairment, normal MRI measures, and normal NfL values, suggesting non‐neurodegenerative etiologies. Patients with abnormal FDG showed heterogeneous hypometabolic patterns suggestive of multiple etiologies including Lewy body disease, FTLD or corticobasal degeneration. Longitudinal follow‐up to autopsy will ultimately clarify the amyloid‐negative clinical mimics of sporadic EOAD.
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    Characterizing and validating 12-month reliable cognitive change in Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease for use in clinical trials
    (Springer, 2025) Hammers, Dustin B.; Musema, Jane; Eloyan, Ani; Thangarajah, Maryanne; Taurone, Alexander; La Joie, Renaud; Touroutoglou, Alexandra; Vemuri, Prashanthi; Kramer, Joel; Aisen, Paul; Dage, Jeffrey L.; Nudelman, Kelly N.; Kirby, Kala; Atri, Alireza; Clark, David; Day, Gregory S.; Duara, Ranjan; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Grant, Ian; Honig, Lawrence S.; Johnson, Erik C. B.; Jones, David T.; Masdeu, Joseph C.; Mendez, Mario F.; Womack, Kyle; Musiek, Erik; Onyike, Chiadi U.; Riddle, Meghan; Rogalski, Emily; Salloway, Steven; Sha, Sharon J.; Scott Turner, Raymond; Wingo, Thomas S.; Wolk, David A.; Carrillo, Maria C.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Apostolova, Liana G.; LEADS Consortium; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: As literature suggests that Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease (EOAD) and late-onset AD may differ in important ways, need exists for randomized clinical trials for treatments tailored to EOAD. Accurately measuring reliable cognitive change in individual patients with EOAD will have great value for these trials. Objectives: The current study sought to characterize and validate 12-month reliable change from the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study (LEADS) neuropsychological battery. Design: Standardized regression-based (SRB) prediction equations were developed from age-matched cognitively intact participants within LEADS, and applied to clinically impaired participants from LEADS. Setting: Participants were recruited from outpatient academic medical centers. Participants: Participants were enrolled in LEADS and diagnosed with amyloid-positive EOAD (n = 189) and amyloid-negative early-onset cognitive impairment not related to AD (EOnonAD; n = 43). Measurement: 12-month reliable change (Z-scores) was compared between groups across cognitive domain composites, and distributions of individual participant trajectories were examined. Prediction of Z-scores by common AD biomarkers was also considered. Results: Both EOAD and EOnonAD displayed significantly lower 12-month follow-up scores than were predicted based on SRB equations, with declines more pronounced for EOAD across several domains. AD biomarkers of cerebral β-amyloid, tau, and EOAD-specific atrophy were predictive of 12-month change scores. Conclusions: The current results support including EOAD patients in longitudinal clinical trials, and generate evidence of validation for using 12-month reliable cognitive change as a clinical outcome metric in clinical trials in EOAD cohorts like LEADS. Doing so will enhance the success of EOAD trials and permit a better understanding of individual responses to treatment.
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    Demographic, clinical, biomarker, and neuropathological correlates of posterior cortical atrophy: an international cohort study and individual participant data meta-analysis
    (Elsevier, 2024) Chapleau, Marianne; La Joie, Renaud; Yong, Keir; Agosta, Federica; Allen, Isabel Elaine; Apostolova, Liana; Best, John; Boon, Baayla D. C.; Crutch, Sebastian; Filippi, Massimo; Fumagalli, Giorgio Giulio; Galimberti, Daniela; Graff-Radford, Jonathan; Grinberg, Lea T.; Irwin, David J.; Josephs, Keith A.; Mendez, Mario F.; Mendez, Patricio Chrem; Migliaccio, Raffaella; Miller, Zachary A.; Montembeault, Maxime; Murray, Melissa E.; Nemes, Sára; Pelak, Victoria; Perani, Daniela; Phillips, Jeffrey; Pijnenburg, Yolande; Rogalski, Emily; Schott, Jonathan M.; Seeley, William; Sullivan, A. Campbell; Spina, Salvatore; Tanner, Jeremy; Walker, Jamie; Whitwell, Jennifer L.; Wolk, David A.; Ossenkoppele, Rik; Rabinovici, Gil D.; PCA International Work Group; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Background: Posterior cortical atrophy is a rare syndrome characterised by early, prominent, and progressive impairment in visuoperceptual and visuospatial processing. The disorder has been associated with underlying neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease, but large-scale biomarker and neuropathological studies are scarce. We aimed to describe demographic, clinical, biomarker, and neuropathological correlates of posterior cortical atrophy in a large international cohort. Methods: We searched PubMed between database inception and Aug 1, 2021, for all published research studies on posterior cortical atrophy and related terms. We identified research centres from these studies and requested deidentified, individual participant data (published and unpublished) that had been obtained at the first diagnostic visit from the corresponding authors of the studies or heads of the research centres. Inclusion criteria were a clinical diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy as defined by the local centre and availability of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers (PET or CSF), or a diagnosis made at autopsy. Not all individuals with posterior cortical atrophy fulfilled consensus criteria, being diagnosed using centre-specific procedures or before development of consensus criteria. We obtained demographic, clinical, biofluid, neuroimaging, and neuropathological data. Mean values for continuous variables were combined using the inverse variance meta-analysis method; only research centres with more than one participant for a variable were included. Pooled proportions were calculated for binary variables using a restricted maximum likelihood model. Heterogeneity was quantified using I2. Findings: We identified 55 research centres from 1353 papers, with 29 centres responding to our request. An additional seven centres were recruited by advertising via the Alzheimer's Association. We obtained data for 1092 individuals who were evaluated at 36 research centres in 16 countries, the other sites having not responded to our initial invitation to participate to the study. Mean age at symptom onset was 59·4 years (95% CI 58·9-59·8; I2=77%), 60% (56-64; I2=35%) were women, and 80% (72-89; I2=98%) presented with posterior cortical atrophy pure syndrome. Amyloid β in CSF (536 participants from 28 centres) was positive in 81% (95% CI 75-87; I2=78%), whereas phosphorylated tau in CSF (503 participants from 29 centres) was positive in 65% (56-75; I2=87%). Amyloid-PET (299 participants from 24 centres) was positive in 94% (95% CI 90-97; I2=15%), whereas tau-PET (170 participants from 13 centres) was positive in 97% (93-100; I2=12%). At autopsy (145 participants from 13 centres), the most frequent neuropathological diagnosis was Alzheimer's disease (94%, 95% CI 90-97; I2=0%), with common co-pathologies of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (71%, 54-88; I2=89%), Lewy body disease (44%, 25-62; I2=77%), and cerebrovascular injury (42%, 24-60; I2=88%). Interpretation: These data indicate that posterior cortical atrophy typically presents as a pure, young-onset dementia syndrome that is highly specific for underlying Alzheimer's disease pathology. Further work is needed to understand what drives cognitive vulnerability and progression rates by investigating the contribution of sex, genetics, premorbid cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and brain network integrity.
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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.