Affiliations: [a] Department of Radiology, Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory (PICSL), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| [b] Penn Memory Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| [c] Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| [d] Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| [e] Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Long Xie, Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory (PICSL), 3700 Hamilton Walk, Richards building 6th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. E-mail: lxie@seas.upenn.edu.
Note: [1] Data used in preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (http://adni.loni.usc.edu). As such, the investigators within the ADNI contributed to the design and implementation of ADNI and/or provided data but did not participate in analysis or writing of this report. A complete listing of ADNI investigators can be found at: http://adni.loni.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/how_to_apply/ADNI_Acknowledgement_List.pdf.
Abstract: Neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) pathology is linked to neurodegeneration in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Using a tailored pipeline, we correlated atrophy rate, as measured from retrospective longitudinal MRI, with NFT burden, measured from 18F-AV-1451 PET, within MTL regions of earliest NFT pathology. In amyloid-β positive but not amyloid-β negative individuals, we found significant correlation between 18F-AV-1451 uptake and atrophy rate that was strongest in the transentorhinal cortex, the first region with NFT pathology. This supports the role of NFTs in driving neurodegeneration and the utility of 18F-AV-1451 PET and structural measurement of transentorhinal cortex in tracking early tau-mediated disease progression.
