Home › Research › Brain scans and imaging
Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease
Vogel JW, Iturria-Medina Y, Strandberg OT, Smith R, Levitis E, Evans AC, Hansson O, Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative et al.. Nature communications, 2020-05-26
Topic: Disease mechanisms in lab and animal studies
Tau is a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and animal models have suggested that tau spreads from cell to cell through neuronal connections, facilitated by β-amyloid (Aβ). We test this hypothesis in humans using an epidemic spreading model (ESM) to simulate tau spread, and compare these simulations to observed patterns measured using tau-PET in 312 individuals along Alzheimer's disease continuum. Up to 70% of the variance in the overall spatial pattern of tau can be explained by our model. Surprisingly, the ESM predicts the spatial patterns of tau irrespective of whether brain Aβ is present, but regions with greater Aβ burden show greater tau than predicted by connectivity patterns, suggesting a role of Aβ in accelerating tau spread. Altogether, our results provide evidence in humans that tau spreads through neuronal communication pathways even in normal aging, and that this process is accelerated by the presence of brain Aβ.
Key findings
- Tau is a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and animal models have suggested that tau spreads from cell to cell through neuronal connections, facilitated by β-amyloid (Aβ).
- Up to 70% of the variance in the overall spatial pattern of tau can be explained by our model.
- Altogether, our results provide evidence in humans that tau spreads through neuronal communication pathways even in normal aging, and that this process is accelerated by the presence of brain Aβ.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Brain scans & tests →
Study details
- Participants312
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / 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 multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Nature communications) |
| 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 | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 312 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation 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 |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32457389) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 31 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100. |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Vogel, J. W., Iturria-Medina, Y., Strandberg, O. T., Smith, R., Levitis, E., Evans, A. C., et al. (2020). Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease. Nature communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2
Vancouver
Vogel JW, Iturria-Medina Y, Strandberg OT, Smith R, Levitis E, Evans AC, et al. Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease. Nature communications. 2020. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2. PMID: 32457389.
BibTeX
@article{vogel2020-32457389,
author = {Vogel, J. W. and Iturria-Medina, Y. and Strandberg, O. T. and Smith, R. and Levitis, E. and Evans, A. C. and Hansson, O. and {Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative} and others},
title = {{Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Nature communications},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2},
pmid = {32457389},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2}
}
Related studies in Brain scans and imaging
Also tagged “phosphorylation”
387 studies in the library carry the topic tag “phosphorylation”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 387 tagged studies.