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The cortical origin and initial spread of medial temporal tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease assessed with positron emission tomography
Sanchez JS, Becker JA, Jacobs HIL, Hanseeuw BJ, Jiang S, Schultz AP, Properzi MJ, Katz SR et al.. Science translational medicine, 2021-01-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Advances in molecular positron emission tomography (PET) have enabled anatomic tracking of brain pathology in longitudinal studies of normal aging and dementia, including assessment of the central model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, according to which TAU pathology begins focally but expands catastrophically under the influence of amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology to mediate neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Initial TAU deposition occurs many years before Aβ in a specific area of the medial temporal lobe. Building on recent work that enabled focus of molecular PET measurements on specific TAU-vulnerable convolutional temporal lobe anatomy, we applied an automated anatomic sampling method to quantify TAU PET signal in 443 adult participants from several observational studies of aging and AD, spanning a wide range of ages, Aβ burdens, and degrees of clinical impairment. We detected initial cortical emergence of tauopathy near the rhinal sulcus in clinically normal people and, in a subset with longitudinal 2-year follow-up data ( n = 104), tracked Aβ-associated spread of TAU from this site first to nearby neocortex of the temporal lobe and then to extratemporal regions. Greater rate of TAU spread was associated with baseline measures of both global Aβ burden and medial temporal lobe TAU. These findings are consistent with clinicopathological correlation studies of Alzheimer's tauopathy and enable precise tracking of AD-related TAU progression for natural history studies and prevention therapeutic trials.
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APA 7th
Sanchez, J. S., Becker, J. A., Jacobs, H. I. L., Hanseeuw, B. J., Jiang, S., Schultz, A. P., et al. (2021). The cortical origin and initial spread of medial temporal tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease assessed with positron emission tomography. Science translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abc0655
Vancouver
Sanchez JS, Becker JA, Jacobs HIL, Hanseeuw BJ, Jiang S, Schultz AP, et al. The cortical origin and initial spread of medial temporal tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease assessed with positron emission tomography. Science translational medicine. 2021. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.abc0655. PMID: 33472953.
BibTeX
@article{sanchez2021-33472953,
author = {Sanchez, J. S. and Becker, J. A. and Jacobs, H. I. L. and Hanseeuw, B. J. and Jiang, S. and Schultz, A. P. and Properzi, M. J. and Katz, SR. and others},
title = {{The cortical origin and initial spread of medial temporal tauopathy in Alzheimer's disease assessed with positron emission tomography}},
journal = {Science translational medicine},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1126/scitranslmed.abc0655},
pmid = {33472953},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abc0655}
}
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Key findings
- Greater rate of TAU spread was associated with baseline measures of both global Aβ burden and medial temporal lobe TAU.
- These findings are consistent with clinicopathological correlation studies of Alzheimer's tauopathy and enable precise tracking of AD-related TAU progression for natural history studies and prevention therapeutic trials.
Why it matters
In tau PET scans of 443 adults, tau first appeared near the rhinal sulcus in clinically normal people. In 104 people followed for 2 years, it spread first to nearby temporal-lobe cortex and then beyond the temporal lobe. Faster spread was associated with higher baseline amyloid and medial temporal tau. The study offers a way to track early tau changes in natural-history studies and prevention trials, but it tested no treatment and does not show that amyloid causes the spread.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Participants104
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 69/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Science translational medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Science Translational Medicine: journal h-index 365 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| 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 | 104 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 | 5 / 7 | Cited 200 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 28.6 citations a year over 7 year(s) since 2021 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 18.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 20 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 102 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Keith A. Johnson: h-index 127 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 12 institution(s) in 4 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 33472953) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 69 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
- DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abc0655
- PubMed: 33472953
- Original source →
- Free full text: PubMed Central →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
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