Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease
Vogel, Jacob W. ; Iturria-Medina, Yasser ; Strandberg, Olof T. LU ; Smith, Ruben LU ; Levitis, Elizabeth ; Evans, Alan C. and Hansson, Oskar LU
(2020)
In Nature Communications
11.
- Abstract
Tau is a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and animal models have suggested that tau spreads from cell to cell through neuronal connections, facilitated by β-amyloid (Aβ). We test this hypothesis in humans using an epidemic spreading model (ESM) to simulate tau spread, and compare these simulations to observed patterns measured using tau-PET in 312 individuals along Alzheimer's disease continuum. Up to 70% of the variance in the overall spatial pattern of tau can be explained by our model. Surprisingly, the ESM predicts the spatial patterns of tau irrespective of whether brain Aβ is present, but regions with greater Aβ burden show greater tau than predicted by connectivity patterns, suggesting a role of Aβ in accelerating tau... (More)
Tau is a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and animal models have suggested that tau spreads from cell to cell through neuronal connections, facilitated by β-amyloid (Aβ). We test this hypothesis in humans using an epidemic spreading model (ESM) to simulate tau spread, and compare these simulations to observed patterns measured using tau-PET in 312 individuals along Alzheimer's disease continuum. Up to 70% of the variance in the overall spatial pattern of tau can be explained by our model. Surprisingly, the ESM predicts the spatial patterns of tau irrespective of whether brain Aβ is present, but regions with greater Aβ burden show greater tau than predicted by connectivity patterns, suggesting a role of Aβ in accelerating tau spread. Altogether, our results provide evidence in humans that tau spreads through neuronal communication pathways even in normal aging, and that this process is accelerated by the presence of brain Aβ.
(Less)
- author
- Vogel, Jacob W.
; Iturria-Medina, Yasser
; Strandberg, Olof T.
LU
; Smith, Ruben
LU
; Levitis, Elizabeth
; Evans, Alan C.
and Hansson, Oskar
LU
- contributor
- Lätt, Jimmy
LU
; Nilsson, Markus
LU
; Ståhlberg, Freddy
LU
; Maly Sundgren, Pia
LU
; van Westen, Danielle
LU
; Jögi, Jonas
LU
; Hägerström, Douglas
LU
; Olsson, Tomas G
LU
and Wollmer, Per
LU
- author collaboration
- organization
-
- MultiPark: Multidisciplinary research focused on Parkinson´s disease
- Clinical Memory Research (research group)
- MR Physics (research group)
- Diagnostic Radiology, (Lund)
- eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
- Clinical Physiology (Lund)
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Medical Radiation Physics, Lund
- Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Malmö (research group)
- publishing date
- 2020-05-26
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Communications
- volume
- 11
- article number
- 2612
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85085538808
- pmid:32457389
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 02e784bb-6986-46a1-a9fa-38d9480197ff
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-16 11:52:08
- date last changed
- 2024-08-08 20:30:56
@article{02e784bb-6986-46a1-a9fa-38d9480197ff,
abstract = {{<p>Tau is a hallmark pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and animal models have suggested that tau spreads from cell to cell through neuronal connections, facilitated by β-amyloid (Aβ). We test this hypothesis in humans using an epidemic spreading model (ESM) to simulate tau spread, and compare these simulations to observed patterns measured using tau-PET in 312 individuals along Alzheimer's disease continuum. Up to 70% of the variance in the overall spatial pattern of tau can be explained by our model. Surprisingly, the ESM predicts the spatial patterns of tau irrespective of whether brain Aβ is present, but regions with greater Aβ burden show greater tau than predicted by connectivity patterns, suggesting a role of Aβ in accelerating tau spread. Altogether, our results provide evidence in humans that tau spreads through neuronal communication pathways even in normal aging, and that this process is accelerated by the presence of brain Aβ.</p>}},
author = {{Vogel, Jacob W. and Iturria-Medina, Yasser and Strandberg, Olof T. and Smith, Ruben and Levitis, Elizabeth and Evans, Alan C. and Hansson, Oskar}},
issn = {{2041-1723}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{05}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Nature Communications}},
title = {{Spread of pathological tau proteins through communicating neurons in human Alzheimer's disease}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41467-020-15701-2}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2020}},
}