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Tau PET patterns mirror clinical and neuroanatomical variability in Alzheimer’s disease
Rik Ossenkoppele, Daniel R. Schonhaut, Michael Schöll, Samuel Neal Lockhart, Nagehan Ayakta, Suzanne L. Baker, James P. O’Neil, Mustafa Janabi et al.. Brain, 2016-03-08
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Voxel-wise contrasts against controls (at P < 0.05 family-wise error corrected) showed that (18)F-AV1451 and (18)F-FDG patterns in patients with posterior cortical atrophy ('visual variant of Alzheimer's disease', n = 7) specifically targeted the clinically affected posterior brain regions, while (11)C-PiB bound diffusely throughout the neocortex. Patients with logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia ('language variant of Alzheimer's disease', n = 5) demonstrated asymmetric left greater than right hemisphere (18)F-AV1451 uptake in three of five patients. Voxel-wise linear regressions thresholded at P < 0.05 (uncorrected) showed that, across all patients, younger age was associated with greater (18)F-AV1451 uptake in wide regions of the neocortex, while older age was associated with increased (18)F-AV1451 in the medial temporal lobe. Finally, worse performance on domain-specific neuropsychological tests was associated with greater (18)F-AV1451 uptake in key regions implicated in memory (medial temporal lobes), visuospatial function (occipital, right temporoparietal cortex) and language (left > right temporoparietal cortex). In conclusion, tau imaging-contrary to amyloid-β imaging-shows a strong regional association with clinical and anatomical heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease. Although preliminary, these results are consistent with and expand upon findings from post-mortem, animal and cerebrospinal fluid studies, and suggest that the pathological aggregation of tau is closely linked to patterns of neurodegeneration and clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Ossenkoppele, R., Schonhaut, D. R., Schöll, M., Lockhart, S. N., Ayakta, N., Baker, S. L., et al. (2016). Tau PET patterns mirror clinical and neuroanatomical variability in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/aww027
Vancouver
Ossenkoppele R, Schonhaut DR, Schöll M, Lockhart SN, Ayakta N, Baker SL, et al. Tau PET patterns mirror clinical and neuroanatomical variability in Alzheimer’s disease. Brain. 2016. doi:10.1093/brain/aww027. PMID: 26962052.
BibTeX
@article{ossenkoppele2016-26962052,
author = {Ossenkoppele, Rik and Schonhaut, Daniel R. and Schöll, Michael and Lockhart, Samuel Neal and Ayakta, Nagehan and Baker, Suzanne L. and O’Neil, James P. and Janabi, Mustafa and others},
title = {{Tau PET patterns mirror clinical and neuroanatomical variability in Alzheimer’s disease}},
journal = {Brain},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1093/brain/aww027},
pmid = {26962052},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/aww027}
}
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Key findings
- Voxel-wise contrasts against controls (at P < 0.05 family-wise error corrected) showed that (18)F-AV1451 and (18)F-FDG patterns in patients with posterior cortical atrophy ('visual variant of Alzheimer's disease', n = 7) specifically targeted the clinically affected posterior brain regions, while (11)C-PiB bound diffusely throughout the neocortex.
- Patients with logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia ('language variant of Alzheimer's disease', n = 5) demonstrated asymmetric left greater than right hemisphere (18)F-AV1451 uptake in three of five patients.
- Voxel-wise linear regressions thresholded at P < 0.05 (uncorrected) showed that, across all patients, younger age was associated with greater (18)F-AV1451 uptake in wide regions of the neocortex, while older age was associated with increased (18)F-AV1451 in the medial temporal lobe.
- Finally, worse performance on domain-specific neuropsychological tests was associated with greater (18)F-AV1451 uptake in key regions implicated in memory (medial temporal lobes), visuospatial function (occipital, right temporoparietal cortex) and language (left > right temporoparietal cortex).
- In conclusion, tau imaging-contrary to amyloid-β imaging-shows a strong regional association with clinical and anatomical heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matters
This preliminary study found that tau PET imaging patterns were regionally associated with clinical and anatomical differences in Alzheimer's disease, unlike amyloid-beta imaging. It does not test a treatment or cure, but suggests tau imaging may help relate brain changes to symptoms.
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Study details
- Participants20
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 68/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Brain) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Brain: journal h-index 503 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| 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 | 1 / 5 | 2016 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 20 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 / 7 | Cited 1,192 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 99.3 citations a year over 12 year(s) since 2016 |
| Impact for its field and year | 6 / 6 | Cited 90.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 5 / 6 | Cited by 102 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 335 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Gil D. Rabinovici: h-index 116 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Berkeley: institution h-index 2,012 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 8 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26962052) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 68 / 100 | — |
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