Foroud, Tatiana

AbstractBackgroundApolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele's role as a modulator of the relationship between soluble plasma amyloid beta (Aβ) and fibrillar brain Aβ measured by Pittsburgh compound B positron emission tomography ([11C]PiB PET) has not been assessed.MethodsNinety‐six Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative participants with [11C]PiB scans and plasma Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 measurements at the time of PET scanning were included. Regional and voxelwise analyses of [11C]PiB data were used to determine the influence of APOE ε4 allele on association of plasma Aβ1–40, Aβ1–42, and Aβ1–40/Aβ1–42 with [11C]PiB uptake.ResultsIn APOE ε4− but not ε4+ participants, positive relationships between plasma Aβ1–40/Aβ1–42 and [11C]PiB uptake were observed. Modeling the interaction of APOE and plasma Aβ1–40/Aβ1–42 improved the explained variance in [11C]PiB binding compared with using APOE and plasma Aβ1–40/Aβ1–42 as separate terms.ConclusionsThe results suggest that plasma Aβ is a potential Alzheimer's disease biomarker and highlight the importance of genetic variation in interpretation of plasma Aβ levels.

Aberrant connectivity is implicated in many neurological and psychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. However, other than a few disease-associated candidate genes, we know little about the degree to which genetics play a role in the brain networks; we know even less about specific genes that influence brain connections. Twin and family-based studies can generate estimates of overall genetic influences on a trait, but genome-wide association scans (GWASs) can screen the genome for specific variants influencing the brain or risk for disease. To identify the heritability of various brain connections, we scanned healthy young adult twins with high-field, high-angular resolution diffusion MRI. We adapted GWASs to screen the brain’s connectivity pattern, allowing us to discover genetic variants that affect the human brain’s wiring. The association of connectivity with the SPON1 variant at rs2618516 on chromosome 11 (11p15.2) reached connectome-wide, genome-wide significance after stringent statistical corrections were enforced, and it was replicated in an independent subsample. rs2618516 was shown to affect brain structure in an elderly population with varying degrees of dementia. Older people who carried the connectivity variant had significantly milder clinical dementia scores and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. As a posthoc analysis, we conducted GWASs on several organizational and topological network measures derived from the matrices to discover variants in and around genes associated with autism ( MACROD2 ), development ( NEDD4 ), and mental retardation ( UBE2A ) significantly associated with connectivity. Connectome-wide, genome-wide screening offers substantial promise to discover genes affecting brain connectivity and risk for brain diseases.

Background and Purpose— Previous studies have suggested that family members with intracranial aneurysms (IAs) often harbor IAs in similar anatomic locations. IA location is important because of its association with rupture. We tested the hypothesis that anatomic susceptibility to IA location exists using a family-based IA study. Methods— We identified all affected probands and first-degree relatives (FDRs) with a definite or probable phenotype in each family. We stratified each IA of the probands by major arterial territory and calculated each family’s proband-FDR territory concordance and overall contribution to the concordance analysis. We then matched each family unit to an unrelated family unit selected randomly with replacement and performed 1001 simulations. The median concordance proportions, odds ratios (ORs), and P values from the 1001 logistic regression analyses were used to represent the final results of the analysis. Results— There were 323 family units available for analysis, including 323 probands and 448 FDRs, with a total of 1176 IAs. IA territorial concordance was higher in the internal carotid artery (55.4% versus 45.6%; OR, 1.54 [1.04–2.27]; P =0.032), middle cerebral artery (45.8% versus 30.5%; OR, 1.99 [1.22–3.22]; P =0.006), and vertebrobasilar system (26.6% versus 11.3%; OR, 2.90 [1.05–8.24], P =0.04) distributions in the true family compared with the comparison family. Concordance was also higher when any location was considered (53.0% versus 40.7%; OR, 1.82 [1.34–2.46]; P <0.001). Conclusions— In a highly enriched sample with familial predisposition to IA development, we found that IA territorial concordance was higher when probands were compared with their own affected FDRs than with comparison FDRs, which suggests that anatomic vulnerability to IA formation exists. Future studies of IA genetics should consider stratifying cases by IA location.