Cerebral amyloid burden is associated with white matter hyperintensity location in specific posterior white matter regions
Weaver, Nick A, Doeven, Thomas, Barkhof, Frederik, Biesbroek, J Matthijs, Groeneveld, Onno N, Kuijf, Hugo J, Daniël Prins, Niels, Scheltens, Philip, Teunissen, Charlotte E, van der Flier, Wiesje M, Biessels, Geert Jan
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.08.001
Neurobiology of Aging 84 p. 225-234
Abstract
White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are a common manifestation of cerebral small vessel disease. WMHs are also frequently observed in patients with familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease, often with a particular posterior predominance. Whether amyloid and tau pathologies are linked to WMH occurrence is still debated. We examined whether cerebral amyloid and tau burden, reflected in cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-beta 1-42 (Aβ-42) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau), are related to WMH location in a cohort of 517 memory clinic patients. Two lesion mapping techniques were performed: voxel-based analyses and region of interest-based linear regression. Voxelwise associations were found between lower Aβ-42 and parieto-occipital periventricular WMHs. Regression analyses demonstrated that lower Aβ-42 correlated with larger WMH volumes in the splenium of the corpus callosum and posterior thalamic radiation, also after controlling for markers of vascular disease. P-tau was not consistently related to WMH occurrence. Our findings indicate that cerebral amyloid burden is associated with WMHs located in specific posterior white matter regions, possibly reflecting region-specific effects of amyloid pathology on the white matter.