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| 2. |
- Bellaver, B., et al.
(författare)
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Astrocyte reactivity influences amyloid-beta effects on tau pathology in preclinical Alzheimer's disease
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Medicine. - 1078-8956. ; 29:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of tau pathology in preclinical Alzheimer's disease reveal that tau tangles accumulate as a function of amyloid-beta burden only in individuals positive for an astrocyte reactivity biomarker. An unresolved question for the understanding of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology is why a significant percentage of amyloid-beta (A beta)-positive cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals do not develop detectable downstream tau pathology and, consequently, clinical deterioration. In vitro evidence suggests that reactive astrocytes unleash A beta effects in pathological tau phosphorylation. Here, in a biomarker study across three cohorts (n = 1,016), we tested whether astrocyte reactivity modulates the association of A beta with tau phosphorylation in CU individuals. We found that A beta was associated with increased plasma phosphorylated tau only in individuals positive for astrocyte reactivity (Ast(+)). Cross-sectional and longitudinal tau-positron emission tomography analyses revealed an AD-like pattern of tau tangle accumulation as a function of A beta only in CU Ast(+) individuals. Our findings suggest astrocyte reactivity as an important upstream event linking A beta with initial tau pathology, which may have implications for the biological definition of preclinical AD and for selecting CU individuals for clinical trials.
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| 3. |
- Benedet, Andréa L., et al.
(författare)
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Plasma neurofilament light associates with Alzheimer's disease metabolic decline in amyloid-positive individuals
- 2019
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Ingår i: Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring. - : Wiley. - 2352-8729. ; 11, s. 679-689
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a promising blood biomarker to detect neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other brain disorders. However, there are limited reports of how longitudinal NfL relates to imaging biomarkers. We herein investigated the relationship between blood NfL and brain metabolism in AD. Methods: Voxelwise regression models tested the cross-sectional association between [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) and both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid NfL in cognitively impaired and unimpaired subjects. Linear mixed models were also used to test the longitudinal association between NfL and [18F]FDG in amyloid positive (Aβ+) and negative (Aβ−) subjects. Results: Higher concentrations of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid NfL were associated with reduced [18F]FDG uptake in correspondent brain regions. In Aβ+ participants, NfL associates with hypometabolism in AD-vulnerable regions. Longitudinal changes in the association [18F]FDG-NfL were confined to cognitively impaired Aβ+ individuals. Discussion: These findings indicate that plasma NfL is a proxy for neurodegeneration in AD-related regions in Aβ+ subjects.
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| 4. |
- Ashton, Nicholas J., et al.
(författare)
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Cerebrospinal fluid p-tau231 as an early indicator of emerging pathology in Alzheimer's disease
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ebiomedicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-3964. ; 76
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Phosphorylated tau (p-tau) epitopes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are accurate biomarkers for a pathological and clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are seen to be increased in preclinical stage of the disease. However, it is unknown if these increases transpire earlier, prior to amyloid-beta (Aβ) positivity as determined by position emission tomography (PET), and if an ordinal sequence of p-tau epitopes occurs at this incipient phase Methods: We measured CSF concentrations of p-tau181, p-tau217 and p-tau231 in 171 participants across the AD continuum who had undergone Aβ ([18F]AZD4694) and tau ([18F]MK6240) position emission tomography (PET) and clinical assessment Findings: All CSF p-tau biomarkers were accurate predictors of cognitive impairment but CSF p-tau217 demonstrated the largest fold-changes in AD patients in comparison to non-AD dementias and cognitively unimpaired individuals. CSF p-tau231 and p-tau217 predicted Aβ and tau to a similar degree but p-tau231 attained abnormal levels first. P-tau231 was sensitive to the earliest changes of Aβ in the medial orbitofrontal, precuneus and posterior cingulate before global Aβ PET positivity was reached Interpretation: We demonstrate that CSF p-tau231 increases early in development of AD pathology and is a principal candidate for detecting incipient Aβ pathology for therapeutic trial application Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Consortium of Neurodegeneration and Aging, Weston Brain Institute, Brain Canada Foundation, the Fonds de Recherche du Québec. © 2022
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| 5. |
- Bellaver, B., et al.
(författare)
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Blood-brain barrier integrity impacts the use of plasma amyloid-beta as a proxy of brain amyloid-beta pathology
- 2023
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Ingår i: Alzheimers & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 19:9, s. 3815-3825
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION Amyloid-beta (A beta) and tau can be quantified in blood. However, biological factors can influence the levels of brain-derived proteins in the blood. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulates protein transport between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood. BBB altered permeability might affect the relationship between brain and blood biomarkers.METHODS We assessed 224 participants in research (TRIAD, n = 96) and clinical (BIODEGMAR, n = 128) cohorts with plasma and CSF/positron emission tomography A beta, p-tau, and albumin measures.RESULTS Plasma A beta(42/40) better identified CSF A beta(42/40) and A beta-PET positivity in individuals with high BBB permeability. An interaction between plasma A beta(42/40) and BBB permeability on CSF A beta(42/40) was observed. Voxel-wise models estimated that the association of positron emission tomography (PET), with plasma A beta was most affected by BBB permeability in AD-related brain regions. BBB permeability did not significantly impact the relationship between brain and plasma p-tau levels.DISCUSSION These findings suggest that BBB integrity may influence the performance of plasma A beta, but not p-tau, biomarkers in research and clinical settings.
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| 6. |
- Brum, Wagner S., et al.
(författare)
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A three-range approach enhances the prognostic utility of CSF biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease.
- 2022
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Ingår i: Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.). - : Wiley. - 2352-8737. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease consensus recommends biomarker dichotomization, a practice with well-described clinical strengths and methodological limitations. Although neuroimaging studies have explored alternative biomarker interpretation strategies, a formally defined three-range approach and its prognostic impact remains under-explored for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers .With two-graph receiver-operating characteristics based on different reference schemes, we derived three-range cut-points for CSF Elecsys biomarkers. According to baseline CSF status, we assessed the prognostic utility of this in predicting risk of clinical progression and longitudinal trajectories of cognitive decline and amyloid-beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography (PET) accumulation in non-demented individuals (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative [ADNI]; n=1246). In all analyses, we compared herein-derived three-range CSF cut-points to previously described binary ones.In our main longitudinal analyses, we highlight CSF p-tau181/Aβ1-42 three-range cut-points derived based on the cognitively normal Aβ-PET negative versus dementia Aβ-PET positive reference scheme for best depicting a prognostically relevant biomarker abnormality range. Longitudinally, our approach revealed a divergent intermediate cognitive trajectory undetected by dichotomization and a clearly abnormal group at higher risk for cognitive decline, with power analyses suggesting the latter group as potential trial enrichment candidates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that individuals with intermediate-range CSF status have similar rates of Aβ deposition to those in the clearly abnormal group.The proposed approach can refine clinico-biological prognostic assessment and potentially enhance trial recruitment, as it captures faster biomarker-related cognitive decline in comparison to binary cut-points. Although this approach has implications for trial recruitment and observational studies, further discussion is needed regarding clinical practice applications.
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| 7. |
- De Bastiani, Marco Antônio, et al.
(författare)
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Hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocyte responses to amyloid and tau pathologies.
- 2023
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Ingår i: Brain, behavior, and immunity. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2139 .- 0889-1591. ; 110, s. 175-184
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Alzheimer's disease clinical research, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) released/leaked into the cerebrospinal fluid and blood is widely measured and perceived as a biomarker of reactive astrogliosis. However, it was demonstrated that GFAP levels differ in individuals presenting with amyloid-β (Aβ) or tau pathologies. The molecular underpinnings behind this specificity are little explored. Here we investigated biomarker and transcriptomic associations of hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocytes with Aβ and tau pathologies in humans and mouse models.We studied 90 individuals with plasma GFAP, Aβ- and Tau-PET to investigate the association between biomarkers. Then, transcriptomic analysis in hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocytes isolated from mouse models presenting Aβ (PS2APP) or tau (P301S) pathologies was conducted to explore differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology terms, and protein-protein interaction networks associated with each phenotype.In humans, we found that plasma GFAP associates with Aβ but not tau pathology. Unveiling the unique nature of hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocytic responses to Aβ or tau pathologies, mouse transcriptomics showed scarce overlap of DEGs between the Aβ. and tau mouse models. While Aβ GFAP-positive astrocytes were overrepresented with DEGs associated with proteostasis and exocytosis-related processes, tau hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocytes presented greater abnormalities in functions related to DNA/RNA processing and cytoskeleton dynamics.Our results offer insights into Aβ- and tau-driven specific signatures in hippocampal GFAP-positive astrocytes. Characterizing how different underlying pathologies distinctly influence astrocyte responses is critical for the biological interpretation of astrocyte biomarkers and suggests the need to develop context-specific astrocyte targets to study AD.This study was supported by Instituto Serrapilheira, Alzheimer's Association, CAPES, CNPq and FAPERGS.
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| 8. |
- Fernandes, Susana C. M., et al.
(författare)
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Transparent chitosan films reinforced with a high content of nanofibrillated cellulose
- 2010
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Ingår i: Carbohydrate Polymers. - : Elsevier BV. - 0144-8617 .- 1879-1344. ; 81:2, s. 394-401
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reports the preparation and characterization of nanocomposite films based on different chitosan matrices and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) for the purpose of improving strength properties. The nanocomposite films were prepared by a simple procedure of casting a water-based suspension of chitosan and NFC, and were characterized by several techniques: namely SEM, X-ray diffraction, visible spectrophotometry, TGA, tensile and dynamic-mechanical analysis. The films obtained were shown to be highly transparent (transmittance varying between 90 and 20% depending on the type of chitosan and NFC content), flexible, displayed better mechanical properties, with a maximum increment on the Young's modulus of 78% and 150% for high molecular weight (HCH) and water-soluble high molecular weight (WSHCH) filled chitosans, respectively; and of 200% and 320% for low molecular weight (LCH) and water-soluble filled (WSLCH) chitosans, respectively. The filled films also showed increased thermal stability, with, for example, an increase in the initial degradation temperature (Td(i)) from 227 degrees C in the unfilled LCH film up to 271 degrees C in filled LCHNFC50% nanocomposite films, and a maximum degradation temperature (Tdi) raising from 304 degrees C to 313 degrees C for the same materials.
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| 9. |
- Ferrari-Souza, J. P., et al.
(författare)
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APOEε4 associates with microglial activation independently of Aβ plaques and tau tangles
- 2023
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Ingår i: Science Advances. - 2375-2548. ; 9:14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Animal studies suggest that the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE epsilon 4) allele is a culprit of early microglial activation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we tested the association between APOE epsilon 4 status and microglial activation in living individuals across the aging and AD spectrum. We studied 118 individuals with positron emission tomog-raphy for amyloid-beta (A beta; [18F]AZD4694), tau ([18F]MK6240), and microglial activation ([11C]PBR28). We found that APOE epsilon 4 carriers presented increased microglial activation relative to noncarriers in early Braak stage regions within the medial temporal cortex accounting for A beta and tau deposition. Furthermore, microglial acti-vation mediated the A beta-independent effects of APOE epsilon 4 on tau accumulation, which was further associated with neurodegeneration and clinical impairment. The physiological distribution of APOE mRNA expression predicted the patterns of APOE epsilon 4-related microglial activation in our population, suggesting that APOE gene expression may regulate the local vulnerability to neuroinflammation. Our results support that the APOE epsilon 4 genotype exerts A beta-independent effects on AD pathogenesis by activating microglia in brain regions associated with early tau deposition.
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| 10. |
- Ferrari-Souza, J. P., et al.
(författare)
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APOEε4 potentiates amyloid β effects on longitudinal tau pathology
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Aging. - 2662-8465. ; 3:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mechanisms by which the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE epsilon 4) allele influences the pathophysiological progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are poorly understood. Here we tested the association of APOE epsilon 4 carriership and amyloid-beta (A beta) burden with longitudinal tau pathology. We longitudinally assessed 94 individuals across the aging and AD spectrum who underwent clinical assessments, APOE genotyping, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) for A beta ([F-18]AZD4694) and tau ([F-18]MK-6240) at baseline, as well as a 2-year follow-up tau-PET scan. We found that APOE epsilon 4 carriership potentiates A beta effects on longitudinal tau accumulation over 2 years. The APOE epsilon 4-potentiated A beta effects on tau-PET burden were mediated by longitudinal plasma phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 (p-tau217(+)) increase. This longitudinal tau accumulation as measured by PET was accompanied by brain atrophy and clinical decline. Our results suggest that the APOE epsilon 4 allele plays a key role in A beta downstream effects on the aggregation of phosphorylated tau in the living human brain.
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