Role of family history for Alzheimer biomarker abnormalities in the adult children study

Chengjie Xiong*, Catherine M. Roe, Virginia Buckles, Anne Fagan, David Holtzman, David Balota, Janet Duchek, Martha Storandt, Mark Mintun, Elizabeth Grant, Abraham Z. Snyder, Denise Head, Tammie L.S. Benzinger, Joseph Mettenburg, John Csernansky, John C. Morris

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether family history (FH) of Alzheimer disease (AD) alone influences AD biomarker abnormalities. Design: Adult Children Study. Setting: Washington University's Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Participants: A total of 269 cognitively normal middle-to older-aged individuals with and without an FH for AD. Main Outcome Measures: Clinical and cognitive measures, magnetic resonance imaging-based brain volumes, diffusion tensor imaging-based white matter microstructure, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, and molecular imaging of cerebral fibrillar amyloid with positron emission tomography using the [ 11C] benzothiazole tracer, Pittsburgh compound B. Results: A positive FH for AD was associated with an age-related decrease of cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42; the ε4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE4) did not alter this effect. Age-adjusted cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 was decreased for individuals with APOE4 compared with the level for those without, and the decrease was larger for individuals with a positive FH compared with the decrease for those without. The variation of cerebrospinal fluid tau and Pittsburgh compound B mean cortical binding potential increased by age. For individuals younger than 55, an age-related increase in mean cortical binding potential was associated with APOE4 but not FH. For individuals older than 55, a positive FH and a positive APOE4 implied the fastest age-related increase in mean cortical binding potential. A positive FH was associated with decreased fractional anisotropy from diffusion tensor imaging in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum. Conclusion: Independent of APOE4, FH is associated with age-related change of several cerebrospinal fluid, Pittsburgh compound B, and diffusion tensor imaging biomarkers in cognitively normal middle- to older-aged individuals, suggesting that non-APOE susceptibility genes for AD influence AD biomarkers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1313-1319
Number of pages7
JournalArchives of Neurology
Volume68
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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