Background: Plasma phosphorylated-tau181 (p-tau181) is a promising biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may offer utility for predicting preclinical disease.
Objective: To evaluate the prospective association between plasma p-tau181 and amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau-PET deposition in cognitively unimpaired individuals.
Methods: Plasma p-tau181 levels were measured at baseline in 52 [48% women, mean 64.4 (SD 5.5) years] cognitively unimpaired Framingham Offspring cohort participants using samples stored between 2011-2014 who subsequently underwent 11C-Pittsburgh Compound-B (PiB)-PET and/or 18F-Flortaucipir (FTP)-PET scans (n = 18 with tau-PET) a mean of 6.8 (SD 0.6) years later. Our primary outcomes included Aβ-precuneus, Aβ-FLR (frontal, lateral, and retrosplenial cortices) and tau-global composite region PET deposition. Secondary outcomes included individual regional Aβ and tau PET-deposition. P-tau181 was compared with plasma neurofilament light chain (NFL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in predicting PET outcomes.
Results: P-tau181 was associated with increased Aβ deposition in the FLR (β±SE, 1.25±0.30, p < 0.0001), precuneus (1.35±0.29, p < 0.001), and other cortical regions. Plasma NFL (1.30±0.49, p = 0.01) and GFAP (1.46±0.39, p < 0.001) were also associated with FLR Aβ deposition. In models including all three biomarkers adjusted for age, sex, APOE E4 allele, AD polygenic risk score and cortical atrophy score, p-tau181 (0.93±0.31, p < 0.01, R2 = 0.18) and GFAP (0.93±0.41, p = 0.03, R2 = 0.11), but not NFL (0.25±0.51, p = 0.62, R2 = 0.01), were associated with FLR-Aβ deposition. Plasma p-tau181 was not associated with tau-PET burden.
Conclusion: In cognitively unimpaired adults, elevated plasma p-tau181 is associated with future increased Aβ deposition across multiple brain regions. Our results highlight the potential utility of p-tau181 as a blood-biomarker to screen for brain-amyloid deposition in cognitively healthy individuals in a community-setting.
Keywords: Aβ-PET; Dementia; biomarkers; brain positron emission tomography; tau-PET.