Integrated 18F-T807 Tau PET, Structural MRI, and Plasma Tau in Tauopathy Neurodegenerative Disorders

Cheng-Hsuan Li; Ta-Fu Chen; Ming-Jang Chiu; Ruoh-Fang Yen; Ming-Chieh Shih; Chin-Hsien Lin

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.646440

Integrated ¹⁸F-T807 Tau PET, Structural MRI, and Plasma Tau in Tauopathy Neurodegenerative Disorders

Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Mar 29:13:646440. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.646440. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Cheng-Hsuan Li^{1

2}, Ta-Fu Chen¹, Ming-Jang Chiu^{1

3

4

5}, Ruoh-Fang Yen⁶, Ming-Chieh Shih⁷, Chin-Hsien Lin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Biomedical Park Hospital, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
³ Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background and Objective: Tau-specific positron emission topography (PET) imaging enables in vivo assessment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aimed to investigate its performance in combination with plasma tau levels in patients with non-AD tauopathy. Methods: A total of 47 participants were enrolled, including 10 healthy controls, 16 with tauopathy parkinsonism syndromes (9 with corticobasal syndrome [CBS], 7 with progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP]), 9 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 4 with AD, and 8 with Parkinson's disease (PD). All participants underwent clinical assessments, ¹⁸F-T807 tau PET, brain MRI, and plasma tau assay. Results: The global cortical standard uptake value ratio (SUVR) of ¹⁸F-T807 PET was comparable between PD and control (p = 0.088). The cortical SUVR was significantly higher in AD group (p = 0.002) but was modestly increased in PSP group compared to the PD group (p = 0.044), especially in parietal and pallidal regions. Asymmetric ¹⁸F-T807 uptake at the pallidum was noted in patients with CBS and FTD. Cortical tau tracer uptake was associated with increased plasma total tau level (p = 0.016), especially in frontal and parietal regions. Regional tracer uptake was correlated with cortical thinning in patients with CBS and PSP (CBS: r = -0.092, p = 0.025; PSP: r = -0.114, p = 0.015). Conclusions: The ¹⁸F-T807 tau tracer uptake was only modestly increased in patients with PSP. Although the cortical tau tracer uptake correlated with regional cortical atrophy and plasma tau levels, a four-repeated tau-specific tracer is needed for future classifying tauopathy parkinsonism syndromes.

Keywords: 18F-T807; Tau PET; biomarker; corticobasal syndrome (CBS); progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP); tauopathies.