Unravelling the Association Between Amyloid-PET and Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in the Alzheimer's Disease Spectrum: Who Really Deserves an A+?

Abstract

Background: Association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-amyloid-β (Aβ)42 and amyloid-PET measures is inconstant across the Alzheimer's disease (AD) spectrum. However, they are considered interchangeable, along with Aβ42/40 ratio, for defining 'Alzheimer's Disease pathologic change' (A+).

Objective: Herein, we further characterized the association between amyloid-PET and CSF biomarkers and tested their agreement in a cohort of AD spectrum patients.

Methods: We included 23 patients who underwent amyloid-PET, MRI, and CSF analysis showing reduced levels of Aβ42 within a 365-days interval. Thresholds used for dichotomization were: Aβ42 < 640 pg/mL (Aβ42+); pTau > 61 pg/mL (pTau+); and Aβ42/40 < 0.069 (ADratio+). Amyloid-PET scans were visually assessed and processed by four pipelines (SPMCL, SPMAAL, FSGM, FSWC).

Results: Different pipelines gave highly inter-correlated standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) (rho = 0.93-0.99). The most significant findings were: pTau positive correlation with SPMCL SUVR (rho = 0.56, p = 0.0063) and Aβ42/40 negative correlation with SPMCL and SPMAAL SUVRs (rho = -0.56, p = 0.0058; rho = -0.52, p = 0.0117 respectively). No correlations between CSF-Aβ42 and global SUVRs were observed. In subregion analysis, both pTau and Aβ42/40 values significantly correlated with cingulate SUVRs from any pipeline (R2 = 0.55-0.59, p < 0.0083), with the strongest associations observed for the posterior/isthmus cingulate areas. However, only associations observed for Aβ42/40 ratio were still significant in linear regression models. Moreover, combining pTau with Aβ42 or using Aβ42/40, instead of Aβ42 alone, increased concordance with amyloid-PET status from 74% to 91% based on visual reads and from 78% to 96% based on Centiloids.

Conclusion: We confirmed that, in the AD spectrum, amyloid-PET measures show a stronger association and a better agreement with CSF-Aβ42/40 and secondarily pTau rather than Aβ42 levels.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Aβ42/40 ratio; Florbetaben; amyloid; amyloid-PET; biomarkers; centiloids; cerebrospinal fluid; standardized uptake value ratio; tau.