Alzheimer 'Tau' Protein Far Surpasses Amyloid in Predicting Toll on Brain Tissue

A brain imaging study of tau protein tangles in Science Translational Medicine can reliably predict the site of future brain atrophy in people with Alzheimer's a year or more in advance — far more than analysis of amyloid plaques, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers used tau-based positron emission tomography (PET), suggesting the technology could expedite Alzheimer's clinical trials and improve personalized medicine. "Tau PET imaging predicted not only how much atrophy we would see, but also where it would happen," said University of California, San Francisco Memory and Aging Center Professor Gil Rabinovici. "These predictions were much more powerful than anything we've been able to do with other imaging tools, and add to evidence that tau is a major driver of the disease." The researchers found overall tau levels in study participants' brains at the beginning predicted how much degeneration would occur by the time of their follow-up visit. Furthermore, local patterns of tau accumulation predicted subsequent atrophy at the same sites with more than 40 percent accuracy, while baseline amyloid-PET scans correctly predicted just 3 percent of future degeneration. "The ability to sensitively track tau accumulation in living persons would for the first time let clinical researchers seek out treatments that can slow down or even prevent the specific pattern of brain atrophy predicted for each individual," Rabinovici concluded.