Prodromal Alzheimer's disease presenting as cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation with spontaneous amyloid-related imaging abnormalities and high cerebrospinal fluid anti-Aβ autoantibodies

Abstract

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation (CAA-ri), a rare form of vasculitis associated with amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition in vessel walls, has been proposed as a spontaneous human model of the amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) occurring after anti-Aβ immunotherapy for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We describe a case of a patient with biopsy-proven CAA-ri and prodromal AD, confirmed by means of neuropsychological examination after 20 months follow-up, presenting with ARIA and high levels of cerebrospinal fluid anti-Aβ autoantibodies. This case further supports the analogies between the inflammatory response driven by anti-Aβ immunotherapy and that spontaneously occurring in CAA-ri.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; amyloid-related imaging abnormalities; anti-Aβ autoantibodies; cerebral amyloid angiopathy; cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation; subarachnoid hemorrhage.