Longitudinal trajectories in clinical progression of Alzheimer’s disease tau positron emission tomography subtypes

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundRecent evidence suggests substantial heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Distinct subtypes have been identified using tau pet positron emissions tomography. There is only limited knowledge about the longitudinal cognitive and clinical trajectories of these subtypes.MethodThree hundred and twenty‐one participants were included with 155 amyloid‐β (Aβ) negative and cognitively normal healthy controls (HC, 74 years, 85 female) and 166 Aβ positive patients with mild cognitive impairment or AD dementia (Alzheimer’s disease spectrum, ADS, 75 years, 76 female). We identified distinct subtypes using an unbiased, data‐driven and similarity‐based Louvain clustering algorithm, modified using a consensus method. Longitudinal trajectories in cognitive domain scores and clinical severity were compared between tau subtypes using mixed effect models.ResultFour distinct tau PET imaging subtypes were identified, including a posterior, a limbic, a medio‐temoral lobe (MTL) sparing and a temporal subtype (Figure 1). In longitudinal analyses, the subtypes differed substantially in disease progression in the different cognitive domains, i.e. episodic memory, executive functioning, language and visual memory. The temporal subtype showed the steepest decline in visual memory and language, the medial temporal lobe sparing subtype showed only minor language degradation and the limbic subtype showed relatively preserved executive functioning but decline in all other cognitive domains. The MTLs was by far worst affected by clinical progression. The remaining subtypes showed only slight deterioration in clinical severity (Figure 2).ConclusionOur results suggest characteristic differences in longitudinal cognitive and clinical trajectories of the tau PET imaging subtypes. Analyzing the heterogeneity in AD using tau PET spatial distribution patterns, significantly improves our understanding of the biological underpinnings of individual differences in clinical presentation and progression. An in‐depth understanding of the subtype’s characteristics in the longitudinal trajectories contributes significantly to improved prevention strategies and individualized precision treatments.