Neurofibrillary tangle-predominant dementia: comparison with classical Alzheimer disease

Acta Neuropathol. 2007 Feb;113(2):107-17. doi: 10.1007/s00401-006-0156-7. Epub 2006 Nov 7.

Abstract

Neurofibrillary tangle predominant dementia (NFTPD) is a subset of late onset dementia, clinically different from traditional "plaque and tangle" Alzheimer disease (AD): later onset, shorter duration, less severe cognitive impairment, and almost absence of ApoE epsilon4. Neuropathology reveals abundant allocortical neurofibrillary pathology with no or few isocortical tau lesions, absence of neuritic plaques, absence or scarcity of amyloid deposits, but neurofibrillary changes comprising both 3 and 4 repeat (3R and 4R) tau immunohistochemistry are not significantly different from those in classical AD. Comparing 51 autopsy cases of NFTPD with 244 classical AD subjects, the nosology of NFTPD and its differences from AD are discussed.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / genetics
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Apolipoprotein E4 / genetics
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Brain / pathology
  • Dementia / metabolism*
  • Dementia / pathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neurofibrillary Tangles / pathology*
  • tau Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Apolipoprotein E4
  • tau Proteins