Intra-individual correlations between quantitative THK-5351 PET and MRI-derived cortical volume in Alzheimer's disease differ according to disease severity and amyloid positivity

• Published in: PloS one 2019-12, Vol.14 (12), p.e0226265-e0226265
• Main Authors: Park, Ji Eun, Yun, Jessica, Kim, Sang Joon, Shim, Woo Hyun, Oh, Jungsu S, Oh, Minyoung, Roh, Jee Hoon, Seo, Sang Won, Oh, Seung Jun, Kim, Jae Seung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertising executives; Aged; Alzheimer Disease - diagnostic imaging; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid - chemistry; Aniline Compounds - chemistry; Atrophy; Biology and Life Sciences; Brain; Brain research; Case-Control Studies; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Clinical trials; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnostic imaging; Cognitive Dysfunction - pathology; Consent; Correlation; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Cortex; Dementia; Diagnostic imaging; Disease control; Family medical history; Female; Fluorine isotopes; Follow-Up Studies; Hippocampus; Humans; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Mathematical analysis; Medical schools; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Neurodegeneration; Neurology; Neuropathology; Neurosciences; Nuclear medicine; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Research and Analysis Methods; Severity of Illness Index; Tau protein; Tomography; β-Amyloid
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226265

To assess the in vivo whole-brain relationship between uptake of [18F]THK-5351 on PET and cortical atrophy on structural MRI according to the presence and severity of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Sixty-five participants (21 normal controls, 32 mild cognitive impairment [MCI] subjects, and 12 AD patients) were enrolled from a prospective multicenter clinical trial (NCT02656498). Structural MRI and [18F]THK-5351 PET were performed within a 2-month interval. Cortical volume and standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR) were calculated from MRI and PET images, respectively, for 35 FreeSurfer-derived cortical regions. Pearson's correlation coefficients between SUVR and cortical volume were calculated for the same regions, and correlated regions were compared according to disease severity and β-amyloid PET positivity. No significantly correlated regions were found in the normal controls. Negative correlations between SUVR and cortical volume were found in the MCI and AD groups, mainly in limbic locations in MCI and isocortical locations in AD. The AD group exhibited stronger correlations (r = -0.576-0.781) than the MCI group (r = 0.368-0.571). Hippocampal atrophy did not show any correlation with SUVR in the β-amyloid PET-negative group, but negatively correlated with SUVR (r = -0.494, P = .012) in the β-amyloid PET-positive group. Regional THK-5351 uptake correlated more strongly with cortical atrophy in AD compared with MCI, thereby demonstrating a close relationship between the neuro-pathologic process and cortical atrophy. Hippocampal atrophy was associated with both β-amyloid and THK-5351 uptake, possibly reflecting an interaction between β-amyloid and tau deposition in the neurodegeneration process.