Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Wellington 30, 08005 Barcelona, Spain.
Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), 08005 Barcelona, Spain.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Mar 10;33(6):2748-2760. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac239.
The investigation of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in asymptomatic individuals at genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) enables discovering the earliest brain alterations in preclinical stages of the disease. The APOE-ε4 variant is the major genetic risk factor for AD, and previous studies have reported rsFC abnormalities in carriers of the ε4 allele. Yet, no study has assessed APOE-ε4 gene-dose effects on rsFC measures, and only a few studies included measures of cognitive performance to aid a clinical interpretation. We assessed the impact of APOE-ε4 on rsFC in a sample of 429 cognitively unimpaired individuals hosting a high number of ε4 homozygotes (n = 58), which enabled testing different models of genetic penetrance. We used independent component analysis and found a reduced rsFC as a function of the APOE-ε4 allelic load in the temporal default-mode and the medial temporal networks, while recessive effects were found in the extrastriate and limbic networks. Some of these results were replicated in a subsample with negative amyloid markers. Interaction with cognitive data suggests that such a network reorganization may support cognitive performance in the ε4-homozygotes. Our data indicate that APOE-ε4 shapes the functional architecture of the resting brain and favor the idea of a network-based functional compensation.
对处于阿尔茨海默病(AD)遗传风险的无症状个体进行静息态功能连接(rsFC)研究,能够在疾病的临床前阶段发现最早的大脑改变。APOE-ε4 变体是 AD 的主要遗传风险因素,先前的研究已经报道了携带 ε4 等位基因的个体的 rsFC 异常。然而,尚无研究评估 APOE-ε4 基因剂量对 rsFC 测量的影响,并且只有少数研究包括认知表现测量以帮助进行临床解释。我们在一组认知正常的 429 名个体中评估了 APOE-ε4 对 rsFC 的影响,这些个体中包含大量 ε4 纯合子(n=58),这使得可以测试不同的遗传外显率模型。我们使用独立成分分析发现,随着 APOE-ε4 等位基因负荷的增加,颞叶默认模式和内侧颞叶网络的 rsFC 降低,而在枕叶和边缘网络中则存在隐性效应。其中一些结果在具有阴性淀粉样蛋白标志物的亚样本中得到了复制。与认知数据的相互作用表明,这种网络重组可能支持 ε4 纯合子的认知表现。我们的数据表明,APOE-ε4 塑造了静息大脑的功能结构,并支持基于网络的功能补偿的观点。