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Association of cortical microstructure with amyloid-β and tau: impact on cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and clinical progression in older adults
Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Montal V, Sepulcre J, Lois C, Hanseeuw B, Vilaplana E, Schultz AP, Properzi MJ et al.. Molecular psychiatry, 2021-09-29
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Noninvasive biomarkers of early neuronal injury may help identify cognitively normal individuals at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). A recent diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) method allows assessing cortical microstructure via cortical mean diffusivity (cMD), suggested to be more sensitive than macrostructural neurodegeneration. Here, we aimed to investigate the association of cMD with amyloid-β and tau pathology in older adults, and whether cMD predicts longitudinal cognitive decline, neurodegeneration and clinical progression. The study sample comprised n = 196 cognitively normal older adults (mean[SD] 72.5 [9.4] years; 114 women [58.2%]) from the Harvard Aging Brain Study. At baseline, all participants underwent structural MRI, DWI, 11 C-Pittsburgh compound-B-PET, 18 F-flortaucipir-PET imaging, and cognitive assessments. Longitudinal measures of Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite-5 were available for n = 186 individuals over 3.72 (1.96)-year follow-up. Prospective clinical follow-up was available for n = 163 individuals over 3.2 (1.7) years. Surface-based image analysis assessed vertex-wise relationships between cMD, global amyloid-β, and entorhinal and inferior-temporal tau. Multivariable regression, mixed effects models and Cox proportional hazards regression assessed longitudinal cognition, brain structural changes and clinical progression. Tau, but not amyloid-β, was positively associated with cMD in AD-vulnerable regions. Correcting for baseline demographics and cognition, increased cMD predicted steeper cognitive decline, which remained significant after correcting for amyloid-β, thickness, and entorhinal tau; there was a synergistic interaction between cMD and both amyloid-β and tau on cognitive slope. Regional cMD predicted hippocampal atrophy rate, independently from amyloid-β, tau, and thickness. Elevated cMD predicted progression to mild cognitive impairment. Cortical microstructure is a noninvasive biomarker that independently predicts subsequent cognitive decline, neurodegeneration and clinical progression, suggesting utility in clinical trials.
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APA 7th
Rodriguez-Vieitez, E., Montal, V., Sepulcre, J., Lois, C., Hanseeuw, B., Vilaplana, E., et al. (2021). Association of cortical microstructure with amyloid-β and tau: impact on cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and clinical progression in older adults. Molecular psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01290-z
Vancouver
Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Montal V, Sepulcre J, Lois C, Hanseeuw B, Vilaplana E, et al. Association of cortical microstructure with amyloid-β and tau: impact on cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and clinical progression in older adults. Molecular psychiatry. 2021. doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01290-z. PMID: 34588623.
BibTeX
@article{rodriguezvieitez2021-34588623,
author = {Rodriguez-Vieitez, E. and Montal, V. and Sepulcre, J. and Lois, C. and Hanseeuw, B. and Vilaplana, E. and Schultz, A. P. and Properzi, M. J. and others},
title = {{Association of cortical microstructure with amyloid-β and tau: impact on cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and clinical progression in older adults}},
journal = {Molecular psychiatry},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1038/s41380-021-01290-z},
pmid = {34588623},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01290-z}
}
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Key findings
- Tau, but not amyloid-β, was positively associated with cMD in AD-vulnerable regions.
- Correcting for baseline demographics and cognition, increased cMD predicted steeper cognitive decline, which remained significant after correcting for amyloid-β, thickness, and entorhinal tau; there was a synergistic interaction between cMD and both amyloid-β and tau on cognitive slope.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Participants196
- Effect size58.2%
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 74/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for 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 and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 43 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 74 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Molecular psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 3 / 5 | 2021 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 196 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| 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 34588623) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 43 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 43 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 74 out of 100. |
| Total | 74 / 100 | — |
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