Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40588723›Full record

ArticleAlzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association2025

Joint spatial associations of amyloid beta and tau pathology in Down syndrome and preclinical Alzheimer's disease: Cross-sectional associations with early cognitive impairments.

Jessie Fanglu Fu, Arun Garimella, Alex Lapointe, William W T Aye, Charles D Chen, Joseph H Lee, Sharon J Krinsky-McHale, Shahid Zaman, Ira T Lott, Christy Hom and 13 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

23 authors.

Jessie Fanglu FuDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4970-7811
Arun GarimellaDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Alex LapointeDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
William W T AyeDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Charles D ChenDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Joseph H LeeDepartments of Neurology and Epidemiology, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
Sharon J Krinsky-McHaleDepartment of Psychology, The New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, New York, USA.
Shahid ZamanDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Ira T LottDepartment of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Christy HomDepartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Beau AncesDepartment of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Elizabeth HeadDepartment of Pathology, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Mark MapstoneDepartment of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Florence LaiDepartment of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Benjamin L HandenDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Charles M LaymonDepartment of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Sigan L HartleyWaisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Bradley T ChristianWaisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Dorene M RentzDepartment of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Keith A JohnsonDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
H Diana RosasDepartment of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Julie C PriceDepartment of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Alzheimer Biomarkers Consortium–Down Syndrome (ABC‐DS)

Funding

Project 3: Biomarkers for DS Clinical TrialsU19AG068054 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI HANDEN, BENJAMIN L · 2020 to 2025
$103.7M
Vascular factors, physical activity, and inflammation as modulators of neurodegenerative and cognitive trajectories (Project 2)P01AG036694 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Hyun-Sik Yang · 2010 to 2026
$50.2M
Training and Dissemination CoreP41EB030006 · NIBIB · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Susie Yi Huang · 2020 to 2026
$10.9M
Project 4P41EB015896 · NIBIB · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI ROSEN, BRUCE R · 2012 to 2018
$9.8M
Disentangling the contribution of tau to aging and ADR01AG046396 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI JOHNSON, KEITH A. · 2014 to 2018
$4.0M
Development and validation of efficient cognitive composite scores of digital tools for the detection of early pathophysiological changes in Alzheimers diseaseR00AG081457 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Fang Lu (Jessie) Fu · 2025 to 2026
$493k
Development and validation of efficient cognitive composite scores of digital tools for the detection of early pathophysiological changes in Alzheimers diseaseK99AG081457 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI FU, FANG LU (JESSIE) · 2023 to 2024
$254k
NIA NIH HHS K99 AG081457NIA NIH HHS P01 AG036694NIA NIH HHS R00 AG081457NIA NIH HHS R01 AG046396NIA NIH HHS U19 AG068054NIBIB NIH HHS P41 EB015896NIBIB NIH HHS P41 EB030006
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionIndividuals with Down syndrome (DS) have elevated risks for Alzheimer's disease (AD) due to amyloid beta (Aβ) precursor protein overexpression, with nearly all developing AD pathology by age 40 at autopsy. This study examined spatial associations between Aβ and tau burden in DS and neurotypical aging.

methodsData included 145 DS (25-67 years) and 191 neurotypical aging individuals (63-89 years). Regional Aβ and tau positron emission tomography outcomes were analyzed using multiset canonical correlation analysis to identify joint Aβ/tau spatial patterns, with regression models assessing associations with age and cognition.

resultsFor a given Aβ burden, cognitively stable DS individuals exhibited relatively higher tau burden than neurotypical aging, while DS mild cognitive impairment/AD individuals exhibited more widespread pathology. Joint Aβ/tau patterns were associated with episodic memory impairment in DS and, as the disease progresses, executive dysfunction. DISCUSSION: DS exhibits overlapping and distinct AD-related neuropathology features, emphasizing the importance of biomarkers for early detection and intervention. HIGHLIGHTS: There are distinct amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau spatial patterns in Down syndrome (DS): For a given level of Aβ burden, individuals with DS exhibited greater and more widespread tau burden compared to neurotypical aging, even before a clinical diagnosis of dementia. Aβ-associated tau burden was linked to episodic memory impairment in DS prior to dementia, with executive dysfunction emerging as the disease progressed, highlighting the sequential impact of pathology on cognition. The unique pattern of early striatal Aβ accumulation in DS supports its use as a potential biomarker for tracking disease progression and guiding clinical trial inclusion criteria for Alzheimer's disease interventions in DS.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseAmyloid beta-PeptidesBrainCognitive DysfunctionDown Syndrometau ProteinsAdultAgedAged, 80 and overBiomarkersCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPositron-Emission TomographyAmyloid beta-PeptidesBiomarkerstau ProteinsAlzheimer's diseaseamyloidDown syndromememorymultivariate analysispreclinicaltau

Identifiers

PMID40588723
PMCPMC12208798

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.