Media release
From:
AAAS
Researchers Identify A Brain Indicator of Early Alzheimer’s Disease:
The integrity of an area of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus (LC) is connected to some of the main features of early Alzheimer’s disease, including the deposition of toxic protein aggregates and memory decline, according to a new analysis by Heidi Jacobs and colleagues. The integrity of the LC could be used as a marker of early Alzheimer’s, and careful monitoring of its changes could shed light on the possible trajectory of the disease in patients, they conclude. “Being able to detect and measure the initial site of pathology will be critical to improve early detection and identify individuals eligible for clinical trials aimed at delaying the disease process,” they write. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting roughly 44 million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein plaques and TAU protein that aggregates in neurotoxic tangles. Researchers know that the LC is an initial site of TAU aggregation, but it has been unclear how this relates to disease progression. Jacobs et al. used PET and MRI scanning data of the LC along with cognitive functioning data from healthy and cognitively impaired individuals, as well as similar postmortem data from two large sets of patients with Alzheimer’s. They found that lower integrity of the LC is associated with more severe disease symptoms and faster decline in memory and executive function in individuals.
Journal/
conference:
Science Translational Medicine
Organisation/s:
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Maastricht University, Netherlands
Funder:
This work was supported by NIH grant P01
AG036694 (to R.A.S. and K.A.J.); NIH grant R01 AG046396 (to K.A.J.); NIH grant R01 AG062559
(to H.I.L.J.); NIH grants P30AG10161 (to D.A.B.), R01AG15819 (to D.A.B.), and R01AG17917 (to
D.A.B.); NIH grants P41 EB022544 (to G.E.F.) and S10OD018035 (to G.E.F.); NIH grants P41
EB01589 (to B. Rosen), S10RR021110 (to B. Rosen), and S10OD010364 (to B. Rosen); NIH grants
1S10RR019307 (to B. Fishl) and S10RR023401 (to B. Fishl); NIH grant R01 AG050436 (to J.C.P.);
and NIH grant R01 AG052414 (to J.C.P.). The NACC database and associated data providing
ADRCs are funded by NIH grants U01 AG016976 (to W. Kukull) and U01 AG032984 (to
G. Schellenberg), NIH grant P30 AG019610 (to E. Reiman), NIH grant P30 AG013846 (to
N. Kowall), NIH grant P30 AG062428-01 (to J. Leverenz), NIH grant P50 AG008702 (to S. Small),
NIH grant P50 AG025688 (to A. Levey), NIH grant P50 AG047266 (to T. Golde), NIH grant P30
AG010133 (to A. Saykin), NIH grant P50 AG005146 (to M. Albert), NIH grant P30 AG062421-01
(to B. Hyman), NIH grant P30 AG062422-01 (to R. Petersen), NIH grant P50 AG005138 (to
M. Sano), NIH grant P30 AG008051 (to T. Wisniewski), NIH grant P30 AG013854 (to R. Vassar),
NIH grant P30 AG008017 (to Jeffrey Kaye), NIH grant P30 AG010161 (to D.A.B.), NIH grant P50 AG047366 (to V. Henderson), NIH grant P30 AG010129 (to C. DeCarli), NIH grant P50 AG016573
(to F. LaFerla), NIH grant P30 AG062429-01(to J. Brewer), NIH grant P50 AG023501 (to B. Miller),
NIH grant P30 AG035982 (to R. Swerdlow), NIH grant P30 AG028383 (to L. Van Eldik), NIH grant
P30 AG053760 (to H. Paulson), NIH grant P30 AG010124 (to J. Trojanowski), NIH grant P50
AG005133 (to O. Lopez), NIH grant P50 AG005142 (to H. Chui), NIH grant P30 AG012300
(to R. Rosenberg), NIH grant P30 AG049638 (to S. Craft), NIH grant P50 AG005136 (to
T. Grabowski), NIH grant P30 AG062715-01 (to S. Asthana), NIH grant P50 AG005681 (to
J. Morris), and NIH grant P50 AG047270 (to S. Strittmatter). H.I.L.J. received funding from the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie
Sklodowska-Curie Grant agreement (IF-2015-GF, 706714).
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