Harrison, Theresa M

Abstract Histopathological assessment has served as the gold standard for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Emerging technological advancements, including the development of amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), have enabled early detection of amyloid pathology, one of the neuropathological hallmarks of AD. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) across cohorts of aging and AD, leveraging different measurements of amyloid burden, may facilitate the identification of novel genetic variants that drive the earliest neuropathological changes in AD. This study presents the largest GWAS of brain amyloidosis to date, leveraging amyloid β (Aβ) measured by in vivo amyloid PET and postmortem histopathology from 13,555 individuals of European ancestry. Amyloid positivity was defined as moderate or frequent neuritic plaques according to the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) staging scores for each postmortem cohort. A Gaussian mixture model (GMM) was applied to each amyloid PET cohort to identify the cohort and tracer-specific cut-offs that differentiate amyloid positive and negative populations. In silico and ex vivo analyses further characterized implicated loci, including interrogating the association between bulk and single-nucleus gene expression profiles and AD-related traits. Genetic covariance analysis assessed the extent amyloid PET and postmortem measures reflect the shared genetic architecture of brain amyloidosis. Our combined amyloidosis GWAS identified three established AD risk loci: BIN1 (rs6733839, OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.14-1.26, P = 1.32 × 10−11), CR1 (rs4844610, OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.16-1.32, P = 4.21 × 10−10), APOE (rs429358, OR = 4.01, 95% CI = 3.66-4.38, P = 4.54 × 10−201), and a newly identified brain amyloidosis-associated variant on chromosome 17 (rs35635959, OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.12-1.25, P = 1.47 × 10−8). SuSiE fine-mapping identified a single credible set of 15 putative causal variants with rs35635959 as the lead variant. Subsequent eQTL and SuSiE-based colocalization analyses prioritized rs35635959 as a strong eQTL for TUBG2, encoding tubulin gamma 2, which is involved in microtubule organization and synaptic plasticity. Further cell-type-specific characterization of this gene in neurons from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tissue indicated that decreased TUBG2 expression was associated with increased Aβ burden and AD case status (PFDR < 0.045). Furthermore, our study is the first to report a modest genetic covariance (covariance=0.17, P < 6.54 × 10−8) between the genetic architecture of amyloid burden captured by different modalities. While APOE showed a strong association with both amyloid endophenotypes, the observed genetic covariance was not substantially attenuated after excluding variants within the APOE region (covariance=0.16, P < 1.32 × 10−7). Our results highlight the benefits of leveraging compatible, harmonized AD endophenotypes to increase power to uncover new molecular insights into the etiology of AD neuropathology. Wang et al. present the largest GWAS of brain amyloidosis to date, analysing 13,555 individuals using amyloid PET and postmortem Aβ measures. They identify a novel amyloidosis-associated variant on chromosome 17, demonstrate genetic covariance between modalities, and highlight complex traits sharing genetic architecture with Aβ burden.

Abstract INTRODUCTION The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) is evaluating lifestyle interventions in older adults at risk for cognitive decline and dementia. Here we characterize the baseline data set of the POINTER Imaging ancillary study. METHODS Participants underwent health and cognitive assessments and neuroimaging with multimodal positron emission tomography (PET) (beta‐amyloid [Aβ] and tau) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Framingham risk score (FRS) was used to quantify cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. RESULTS A total of 1052 participants (31% from underrepresented ethnoracial groups) were enrolled. Compared to Aβ−, Aβ+ (29%) participants were older, had higher apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) ε4 carriage rate and white matter hyperintensity volume, and greater temporal tau. FRS was related to MRI measures, but not AD biomarkers. FRS and tau had independent effects on cognition. DISCUSSION In this heterogenous, at‐risk cohort, CVD risk was related to more abnormal brain structure and poorer cognition, representing a putative non‐AD (Alzheimer's disease) pathway to brain injury and cognitive decline. Highlights The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) cohort is enriched for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and poor lifestyle POINTER Imaging collected multimodal neuroimaging data in this unique, at‐risk cohort Amyloid burden was related to age, apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) ε4 carriage, and measures of disease progression Associations between amyloid and tau, and tau and cognition, were relatively weak CVD risk and tau pathology were independently related to memory