This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2017
Tau pathology burden associated with level of cognitive reserve in Alzheimer’s disease.
Tau pathology burden associated with level of cognitive reserve in Alzheimer’s disease.
TAU PATHOLOGY BURDEN ASSOCIATEDWITH LEVEL OF COGNITIVE RESERVE INALZHEIMER’S DISEASEMerle C. Hoenig1, Gerard N. Bischof1,2, Jochen Hammes1,Jennifer Faber3,4, Klaus Fliessbach4,5, Thilo van Eimeren1,2,3,Alexander Drzezga1,3,1University Hospital Cologne, Cologne,Germany;2Institute of Neuroscience and...
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Personal Name(s): | Hönig, M. |
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Bischof, G. N. / Hammes, J. / Faber, J. / Fliessbach, K. / van Eimeren, T. / Drzezga, A. | |
Contributing Institute: |
Kognitive Neurowissenschaften; INM-3 |
Imprint: |
2017
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Conference: | Alzheimer’ Association International Conference (AAIC), London (UK), 2017-07-16 - 2017-07-20 |
Document Type: |
Abstract |
Research Program: |
(Dys-)function and Plasticity |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
TAU PATHOLOGY BURDEN ASSOCIATEDWITH LEVEL OF COGNITIVE RESERVE INALZHEIMER’S DISEASEMerle C. Hoenig1, Gerard N. Bischof1,2, Jochen Hammes1,Jennifer Faber3,4, Klaus Fliessbach4,5, Thilo van Eimeren1,2,3,Alexander Drzezga1,3,1University Hospital Cologne, Cologne,Germany;2Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine III, Juelich,Germany;3German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases,Bonn, Germany;4University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany;5German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn,Germany. Contact e-mail:merle.hoenig@uk-koeln.deBackground:PET studies have demonstrated that higher educatedpatients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) display greater levels ofbeta amyloid pathology than lower educated patients with equalsymptom severity, supporting the concept of cognitive reserve.Whether similar associations exist forin vivotau pathology remainselusive, although closer relations between tau-deposition andcognitive decline have been reported. Therefore, this study exam-ined differences in tau pathology load and spread in higher versuslower educated AD patients using [18F]AV-1451-PET imaging.Methods:24 patients with typical AD were grouped into a higher(HEAD) and lower educated (LEAD) group. The two groupswere matched for age and cognition measured by the Mini MentalState Examination. Additionally, a group of 14 age-matchedhealthy controls was included. [18F]AV-1451-PET scans were ac-quired to assess cerebral tau-burden. Regional tau ratios (referenceregion: cerebellum) were determined in a set of regions of interest(ROIs) which were defined according to the pathological diseasestages by Braak & Braak. The obtained tau ratios were thencompared between the groups. Furthermore, whole brain voxel-wise comparisons were conducted using Statistical ParametricMapping to determine differences in tau-distribution betweeneach AD-group and the healthy controls, respectively, as well as be-tween the two AD-groups.Results:The ROI analysis yielded tau pa-thology in regions corresponding to more advanced Braak stagesexclusively in the HEAD group, whereas tau pathology in theLEAD group was still confined to lower Braak stages. These resultswere confirmed by voxel-wise comparisons revealing higher taulevels in dorsomedial fronto-parietal cortical areas in the HEADgroup when compared to the LEAD group.Conclusions:Highlyeducated AD patients seem to be able to tolerate more tau tanglepathology than lower educated patients with comparable cognitiveimpairment in support of the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Thesecognitive reserve-related differences in disease manifestationhave crucial implications for early detection of AD, prognosisand assessment of disease progression and the monitoring of drugtreatments. |