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45/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 45 out of 100. Brain scans and imaging

Topic: Plasma and spinal-fluid biomarkers

Plain-language summary

Tau is one of several proteins associated with frontotemporal dementia. Tau-PET scans of all three symptomatic MAPT carriers demonstrated at least mild 18F-MK-6240 binding in expected regions, with particularly strong binding in a subject with an R406W MAPT mutation (known to be associated with Alzheimer's like neurofibrillary tangles). Furthermore, a general linear model contrasting genetic frontotemporal dementia subjects to a set of 83 age-matched controls showed significant binding only in the MAPT carriers in selected frontal, temporal and subcortical regions. In summary, our findings demonstrate mild but significant binding of MK-6240 in amyloid-negative P301L and R406W MAPT mutation subjects, with higher standardized uptake value ratio in the R406W mutation associated with the presence of NFTs, and little non-specific binding. These results highlight that a positive 18F-MK-6240 tau-PET does not necessarily imply a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and point towards a potential use for 18F-MK-6240 as a biomarker in certain tauopathies beyond Alzheimer's, although further patient recruitment and autopsy studies will be necessary to determine clinical applicability.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Levy, J. P., Bezgin, G., Savard, M., Pascoal, T. A., Finger, E., Laforce, R., et al. (2022). 18F-MK-6240 tau-PET in genetic frontotemporal dementia. Brain : a journal of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab392

Vancouver

Levy JP, Bezgin G, Savard M, Pascoal TA, Finger E, Laforce R, et al. 18F-MK-6240 tau-PET in genetic frontotemporal dementia. Brain : a journal of neurology. 2022. doi:10.1093/brain/awab392. PMID: 34664612.

BibTeX

@article{levy2022-34664612,
  author  = {Levy, Jake P and Bezgin, Gleb and Savard, Melissa and Pascoal, Tharick A and Finger, Elizabeth and Laforce, Robert and Sonnen, Joshua A and Soucy, Jean-Paul and others},
  title   = {{18F-MK-6240 tau-PET in genetic frontotemporal dementia}},
  journal = {Brain : a journal of neurology},
  year    = {2022},
  doi     = {10.1093/brain/awab392},
  pmid    = {34664612},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab392}
}

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How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Tau is one of several proteins associated with frontotemporal dementia.
Tau-PET scans of all three symptomatic MAPT carriers demonstrated at least mild 18F-MK-6240 binding in expected regions, with particularly strong binding in a subject with an R406W MAPT mutation (known to be associated with Alzheimer's like neurofibrillary tangles).
Furthermore, a general linear model contrasting genetic frontotemporal dementia subjects to a set of 83 age-matched controls showed significant binding only in the MAPT carriers in selected frontal, temporal and subcortical regions.
In summary, our findings demonstrate mild but significant binding of MK-6240 in amyloid-negative P301L and R406W MAPT mutation subjects, with higher standardized uptake value ratio in the R406W mutation associated with the presence of NFTs, and little non-specific binding.
These results highlight that a positive 18F-MK-6240 tau-PET does not necessarily imply a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and point towards a potential use for 18F-MK-6240 as a biomarker in certain tauopathies beyond Alzheimer's, although further patient recruitment and autopsy studies will be necessary to determine clinical applicability.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 45/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multicenter collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 45 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain : a journal of neurology)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	3 / 5	2022 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 34664612)
Free to read	— / 2	Access not recorded — left out of this score
Points	25 / 56	Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 25 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 45 out of 100.
Total	45 / 100	—

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