Tau tangles in Parkinson's disease: A 2-year follow-up flortaucipir PET study.
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Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Flortaucipir PET, a marker of tau tangles, has shown lower than expected cortical uptake in Parkinson's disease (PD), than would be predicted from neuropathologic estimates of Alzheimer's disease co-pathology. Instead, the most characteristic finding of flortaucipir imaging in PD is decreased uptake in the substantia nigra, reflecting reduction in its "off-target" binding to neuromelanin. We have previously reported these observations in cross-sectional studies. OBJECTIVE: Here, we present two-year follow-up data of cortical and nigral flortaucipir uptake in PD patients. METHODS: Seventeen PD patients received repeat flortaucipir PET two years after baseline. We interrogated vertex-based group-wise cortical tracer binding (SUVRs) with a cerebellar reference using the general linear model while mean substantia nigra SUVRs were compared with volumes of interest group comparisons and voxel-wise group analyses using ANOVA. Finally, we performed linear regressions of tau load with changes in MoCA and UPDRS motor scores. RESULTS: We found no significant changes in substantia nigra or cortex flortaucipir uptake in Parkinson's disease patients over two years and no association with changes in cognitive symptoms. Signal reduction in the medial substantia nigra trended towards an association with worsening of motor symptoms. CONCLUSION: No significant increase in tau tangles occurred after a two-year follow-up of Parkinson's disease patients using flortaucipir PET.
Date Issued
2020-01-13
Date Acceptance
2019-11-05
Citation
Journal of Parkinsons Disease, 2020, 10 (1), pp.161-171
ISSN
1877-718X
Publisher
IOS Press
Start Page
161
End Page
171
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Parkinsons Disease
Volume
10
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
©2019 IOS Press All rights reserved.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31815700
PII: JPD191774
Subjects
Parkinson’s disease
dementia
neurofibrillary Tangles Melanins
positron emission
tomography
tomography
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Date Publish Online
2020-01-13