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Differences ID'd in Tau Burden in Down Syndrome, Alzheimer Disease

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 25, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 25, 2024 -- The spatial distribution, timing, and magnitude of tau burden differs for people with Down syndrome and those with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease, according to a study published in the May issue of The Lancet Neurology.

Julie K. Wisch, Ph.D., from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional observational study to compare the magnitude, spatial extent, and temporal ordering of tau spread in people with Down syndrome and autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease and in noncarrier familial controls. All participants completed structural magnetic resonance imaging and tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

One hundred thirty-seven people with Down syndrome, 49 with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease, and 85 familial controls who met the PET quality-control procedure for tau-PET imaging processing were included in the study. The researchers found that in people with Down syndrome, tau PET burden was observed most frequently in the subcortical and medial temporal regions, while people with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease most often had tau-PET burden within the medial temporal lobe. Compared with those with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease, people with Down syndrome had greater concentrations of tau for a given level of amyloid across the brain. For people with Down syndrome, increases in tau were more strongly associated with increases in amyloid temporally, compared with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease.

"These differences might have important implications because differences in the temporal pattern for tau spread might affect the timing of drug administration in clinical trials, and differences in spatial patterning and magnitude of tau burden might affect disease progression," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted April 2024

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