| 1. |
- ten Kate, M., et al.
(author)
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MRI predictors of amyloid pathology: results from the EMIF-AD Multimodal Biomarker Discovery study
- 2018
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In: Alzheimers Research & Therapy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-9193. ; 10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: With the shift of research focus towards the pre-dementia stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), there is an urgent need for reliable, non-invasive biomarkers to predict amyloid pathology. The aim of this study was to assess whether easily obtainable measures from structural MRI, combined with demographic data, cognitive data and apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon 4 genotype, can be used to predict amyloid pathology using machine-learning classification. Methods: We examined 810 subjects with structural MRI data and amyloid markers from the European Medical Information Framework for Alzheimer's Disease Multimodal Biomarker Discovery study, including subjects with normal cognition (CN, n = 337, age 66.5 +/- 72, 50% female, 27% amyloid positive), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 375, age 69. 1 +/- 7.5, 53% female, 63% amyloid positive) and AD dementia (n = 98, age 67.0 +/- 7.7, 48% female, 97% amyloid positive). Structural MRI scans were visually assessed and Freesurfer was used to obtain subcortical volumes, cortical thickness and surface area measures. We first assessed univariate associations between MRI measures and amyloid pathology using mixed models. Next, we developed and tested an automated classifier using demographic, cognitive, MRI and APOE epsilon 4 information to predict amyloid pathology. A support vector machine (SVM) with nested 10-fold cross-validation was applied to identify a set of markers best discriminating between amyloid positive and amyloid negative subjects. Results: In univariate associations, amyloid pathology was associated with lower subcortical volumes and thinner cortex in AD-signature regions in CN and MCI. The multi-variable SVM classifier provided an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 +/- O. 07 in MCI and an AUC of 0.74 +/- 0.08 in CN. In CN, selected features for the classifier included APOE epsilon 4, age, memory scores and several MRI measures such as hippocampus, amygdala and accumbens volumes and cortical thickness in temporal and parahippocampal regions. In MCI, the classifier including demographic and APOE epsilon 4 information did not improve after additionally adding imaging measures. Conclusions: Amyloid pathology is associated with changes in structural MRI measures in CN and MCI. An automated classifier based on clinical, imaging and APOE epsilon 4 data can identify the presence of amyloid pathology with a moderate level of accuracy. These results could be used in clinical trials to pre-screen subjects for anti-amyloid therapies.
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| 2. |
- Shi, Liu, et al.
(author)
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Dickkopf-1 Overexpression in vitro Nominates Candidate Blood Biomarkers Relating to Alzheimer's Disease Pathology.
- 2020
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In: Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. - : IOS Press. - 1875-8908 .- 1387-2877. ; 77:3, s. 1353-1368
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Previous studies suggest that Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), an inhibitor of Wnt signaling, plays a role in amyloid-induced toxicity and hence Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the effect of DKK1 expression on protein expression, and whether such proteins are altered in disease, is unknown.We aim to test whether DKK1 induced protein signature obtained in vitro were associated with markers of AD pathology as used in the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration (ATN) framework as well as with clinical outcomes.We first overexpressed DKK1 in HEK293A cells and quantified 1,128 proteins in cell lysates using aptamer capture arrays (SomaScan) to obtain a protein signature induced by DKK1. We then used the same assay to measure the DKK1-signature proteins in human plasma in two large cohorts, EMIF (n = 785) and ANM (n = 677).We identified a 100-protein signature induced by DKK1 in vitro. Subsets of proteins, along with age and apolipoprotein E ɛ4 genotype distinguished amyloid pathology (A + T-N-, A+T+N-, A+T-N+, and A+T+N+) from no AD pathology (A-T-N-) with an area under the curve of 0.72, 0.81, 0.88, and 0.85, respectively. Furthermore, we found that some signature proteins (e.g., Complement C3 and albumin) were associated with cognitive score and AD diagnosis in both cohorts.Our results add further evidence for a role of DKK regulation of Wnt signaling in AD and suggest that DKK1 induced signature proteins obtained in vitro could reflect theATNframework as well as predict disease severity and progression in vivo.
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| 3. |
- Shi, Liu, et al.
(author)
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Discovery and validation of plasma proteomic biomarkers relating to brain amyloid burden by SOMAscan assay.
- 2019
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In: Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. - : Wiley. - 1552-5279 .- 1552-5260. ; 15:11, s. 1478-1488
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Plasma proteins have been widely studied as candidate biomarkers to predict brain amyloid deposition to increase recruitment efficiency in secondary prevention clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease. Most such biomarker studies are targeted to specific proteins or are biased toward high abundant proteins.4001 plasma proteins were measured in two groups of participants (discovery group = 516, replication group = 365) selected from the European Medical Information Framework for Alzheimer's disease Multimodal Biomarker Discovery study, all of whom had measures of amyloid.A panel of proteins (n = 44), along with age and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4, predicted brain amyloid deposition with good performance in both the discovery group (area under the curve = 0.78) and the replication group (area under the curve = 0.68). Furthermore, a causal relationship between amyloid and tau was confirmed by Mendelian randomization.The results suggest that high-dimensional plasma protein testing could be a useful and reproducible approach for measuring brain amyloid deposition.
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| 4. |
- Xu, Jin, et al.
(author)
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Sex-Specific Metabolic Pathways Were Associated with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) Endophenotypes in the European Medical Information Framework for AD Multimodal Biomarker Discovery Cohort
- 2021
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In: Biomedicines. - : MDPI. - 2227-9059. ; 9:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: physiological differences between males and females could contribute to the development of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Here, we examined metabolic pathways that may lead to precision medicine initiatives.METHODS: We explored whether sex modifies the association of 540 plasma metabolites with AD endophenotypes including diagnosis, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, brain imaging, and cognition using regression analyses for 695 participants (377 females), followed by sex-specific pathway overrepresentation analyses, APOE ε4 stratification and assessment of metabolites' discriminatory performance in AD.RESULTS: In females with AD, vanillylmandelate (tyrosine pathway) was increased and tryptophan betaine (tryptophan pathway) was decreased. The inclusion of these two metabolites (area under curve (AUC) = 0.83, standard error (SE) = 0.029) to a baseline model (covariates + CSF biomarkers, AUC = 0.92, SE = 0.019) resulted in a significantly higher AUC of 0.96 (SE = 0.012). Kynurenate was decreased in males with AD (AUC = 0.679, SE = 0.046).CONCLUSIONS: metabolic sex-specific differences were reported, covering neurotransmission and inflammation pathways with AD endophenotypes. Two metabolites, in pathways related to dopamine and serotonin, were associated to females, paving the way to personalised treatment.
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