Dage Jeffrey L, Wennberg Alexandra M V, Airey David C, Hagen Clinton E, Knopman David S, Machulda Mary M, Roberts Rosebud O, Jack Clifford R, Petersen Ronald C, Mielke Michelle M
Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Alzheimers Dement. 2016 Dec;12(12):1226-1234. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2016.06.001. Epub 2016 Jul 18.
Tau protein levels in plasma may be a marker of neuronal damage. We examined associations between plasma tau levels and Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging measures among nondemented individuals.
Participants included 378 cognitively normal (CN) and 161 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) individuals enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging with concurrent neuropsychological measures and amyloid PET, fluorodeoxyglucose PET, and MRI. Baseline plasma tau levels were measured using the Quanterix Simoa-HD1 tau assay.
Plasma tau levels were higher in MCI compared with CN (4.34 vs. 4.14 pg/mL, P = .078). In regression models adjusted for age, gender, education, and APOE, higher plasma tau was associated with worse memory performance (b = -0.30, P = .02) and abnormal cortical thickness in an AD signature region (odds ratio = 1.80, P = .018).
Plasma tau is associated with cortical thickness and memory performance. Longitudinal studies will better elucidate the associations between plasma tau, neurodegeneration, and cognition.
血浆中的tau蛋白水平可能是神经元损伤的一个标志物。我们研究了血浆tau水平与非痴呆个体中阿尔茨海默病（AD）相关的磁共振成像（MRI）和正电子发射断层扫描（PET）神经影像学指标之间的关联。
参与者包括378名认知正常（CN）和161名轻度认知障碍（MCI）个体，他们参与了梅奥诊所衰老研究，同时接受了神经心理学测量以及淀粉样蛋白PET、氟脱氧葡萄糖PET和MRI检查。使用Quanterix Simoa-HD1 tau检测法测量基线血浆tau水平。
与CN相比，MCI患者的血浆tau水平更高（4.34对4.14 pg/mL，P = 0.078）。在根据年龄、性别、教育程度和APOE进行调整的回归模型中，较高的血浆tau水平与较差的记忆表现相关（b = -0.30，P = 0.02），并且与AD特征区域的皮质厚度异常相关（优势比 = 1.80，P = 0.018）。
血浆tau与皮质厚度和记忆表现相关。纵向研究将更好地阐明血浆tau、神经退行性变和认知之间的关联。
