Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Autopsy studies of Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and other diseases of tau protein pathology have shown strong relationships between the density of tau pathology and other markers of neurodegeneration such as brain atrophy. During life, cerebrospinal fluid markers of tau pathology also relate to brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease. However, we do not yet have an imaging tool to study the relationships between tau pathology and brain atrophy during life. In this study, we used [F18] T807, a new PET imaging ligand, to scan patients with Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and other diseases of tau pathology. We then analyzed how the PET signal of tau pathology relates to brain atrophy in these patients. In both Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia, PET signal of tau pathology was elevated in expected areas based on the clinical diagnosis, and these areas were very similar to those showing significant brain atrophy. In addition, in single patients, the burden of tau pathology measured with this new PET ligand significantly correlated with the degree of atrophy in individual regions. Therefore, in patients with Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia, this new PET imaging ligand can be used as a marker of tau pathology and neurodegeneration during life. Further work validating these findings in tau-based disorders will hopefully improve diagnostic accuracy and expedite treatment development.