PET tau imaging in BLSA and GESTALT as an Early Marker of Alzheimer's Disease

National Institute On Aging

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Abstract

PET imaging with the Tau radioligand AV-1451 was introduced into the BLSA study in 2016. In combination with PET amyloid imaging and MRI measures, these studies will provide information on the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's Disease. To date more than 115 BLSA participants had at least one PET Tau scan, and of these, more than half had 2 or more scans. Past publications have shown associations between greater entorhinal tau levels and steeper memory loss, as well as associations between tau burden and personality characteristics. In addition to the study of PET biomarkers, we are investigating plasma biomarkers of AD pathology and neurodegeneration in the sample of individuals who have undergone PET amyloid and tau studies. These assays have been performed in the laboratories of our collaborators, Dr. Abhay Moghekar at Johns Hopkins, and Drs. Zetterberg, Blennow and Ashton at Gothenburg University. Ongoing analyses are examining the relation between these AD biomarkers and the spatial distribution of PET Tau binding (and PET amyloid) using voxel wise analysis, with recent results presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (Bilgel et al., 2023).