Alzheimer's brain changes may be more aggressive in women

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-03-04 03:00

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The brain changes in Alzheimer's may be more aggressive in women compared to men, according to US research. The two major proteins that are thought to be involved in Alzheimer's are amyloid, which forms plaques around brain cells, and the protein tau, which forms tangles within brain cells. The analysis of six previous studies found that women with high amyloid levels at the start of the studies, accumulated tau faster than men with high amyloid levels. The authors say these findings suggest that the higher rates of Alzheimer's disease among women are not just because women live longer, but may be due to an elevated risk for this tau buildup in females. They say these results may also have implications for clinical trials of Alzheimer's drugs.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Neurology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard Medical School, USA

Funder: The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) is funded by the NIA, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and through contributions from the following: Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, Araclon Biotech, BioClinica, Biogen Idec, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Eisai, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly and Company, EuroImmun, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and its affiliated company Genentech, Fujirebio, GE Healthcare, IXICO, Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Medpace, Merck & Co, Meso Scale Diagnostics, NeuroRx Research, Neurotrack Technologies, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Piramal Imaging, Servier, Synarc, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research provides funds to support ADNI clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the NIH. The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for NeuroImaging at the University of Southern California. The Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS) was funded by grant No. P01 AG036694 (Drs Sperling and Johnson) from the NIH NIA. The Wisconsin Registry of Alzheimer Prevention (WRAP) study is supported by grant No. AG027161 with additional funding for imaging from grant No. AG021155 from the NIH NIA. Dr Coughlan is funded by an NIH Pathway to Independence award (award No. K99AG083063) and an Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship (award No. AARF-23-1151259). Dr Harrison is funded by an NIA career development award (award No. K01AG078443). Dr Buckley is funded by an NIH Pathway to Independence award (award No. R00-AG061238), an NIH New Innovator award (award No. DP2-AG082342), and a grant from the NIH (grant No. R01-AG079142). Dr Jack was funded by grant No. R37 AG01378 from the NIH. MCSA data was funded through grant No. U01 AG006786 from the NIH NIA and the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (grant No. P30 AG067677) supported by the NIA and GHR Foundation. Dr Binette was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fonds de recherche en Santé Québec (award No. 298314). Dr Jacobs was supported by grants from the NIH (grant No. R01AG062559, R01AG068062, R01AG082006, and R21AG074220), Alzheimer Nederland (award No.WE.03-2019-02) and the Alzheimer’s Association (award No. AARG-22-920434). Dr Yau was funded by the NIA (grant No. 1K23AG084868). Dr Shirzadi was funded by a grant from BrightFocus (grant No. A2023001F).

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