Imaging methods show improvement in Alzheimer's research

Prior to resent studies, diagnosing Alzheimer's was only done postmortem through an autopsy. After years researchers were able to find patterns with the tau, which form tangles within the neurons and Amylyoid-β, a plaque that forms around the nerve cell. They found that we have good tau and toxic tau and when in the presence of Amylyoid-β, levels of toxicity increase. Because of these postmortem studies we know that the presence of these two are related to the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease and only recently have been able to use these findings to observe the protein in living patients. Michael Schöll and his group had two goals, to find a way to monitor living patients during treatment and to be able to properly diagnose the disease. In this study they use imaging methods such as MRI and PET scans to look for tau and Amylyoid-β using a tag for the molecule that is labelled with an isotope they call 18F-AV-1451.

This study is interesting and holds hope because prior to recent studies we were unable to monitor or truly diagnose Alzheimer's Disease but this might be the start of something great. Isotope labelled 18F-AV-1451 was used with imaging programs such as PET and MRI’s to locate and track tau in the brain.  This study focused on the difference of the presence of tau specifically in early onset (>65 years of age ) and late onset(<65 years of age).

 
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Image 1:Showing the region of the brain that are effected by tau and A-BETA in healthy vs. Alzheimer's (medicalxpress.com)

                                                                                                                                                                         

Researchers found that by using the tag 18F-AV-1451 they were able to differentiate early and late AD. The presents of tau was more relevant in early onset throughout the brain where tau in the late onset was much more significant in the temporal lobe. 

 There were a lot of factors that were not accounted for and things could have been set up differently such as the small sample size that was noted and the fact that their study had not matched up with other researchers collected data in similar studies. Even so, studies like this are necessary for continuous research and progress so we can eventually diagnose Alzheimer's in living patients, monitor the illness to see if treatments are helping and hopefully find a cure. 

It seems like in today's age, almost all of us know someone who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. For me personally it is my YaYa, over the last few years she has lost a significant amount of memory and to not be able to do anything about it is really hard and I can see it affects her as well. It seemed different to read about something that we are still so uneducated about yet effects so many people. I found this interesting and hopeful so I hope you guys do too.

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Citations:

Image 1 : 

(staff, Science X. “Brain Imaging Links Alzheimer's Decline to Tau Protein.” Medical Xpress - Medical Research Advances and Health News, Medical Xpress, 11 May 2016, medicalxpress.com/news/2016-05-brain-imaging-links-alzheimer-decline.html.)

Report: Distinct ¹⁸F-AV-1451 tau PET retention patterns in early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease.   (Michael Schöll, Rik Ossenkoppele, Olof Strandberg, Sebastian Palmqvist, , Jonas Jögi, Tomas Ohlsson, Ruben Smith, Oskar Hansson; Distinct 18F-AV-1451 tau PET retention patterns in early- and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Brain, Volume 140, Issue 9, 1 September 2017, Pages 2286–2294, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx171)