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@ARTICLE{RoemerCassiano:276160,
author = {Roemer-Cassiano, Sebastian N and Wagner, Fabian and
Evangelista, Lisa and Rauchmann, Boris-Stephan and Dehsarvi,
Amir and Steward, Anna and Dewenter, Anna and Biel, Davina
and Zhu, Zeyu and Pescoller, Julia and Gross, Mattes and
Perneczky, Robert and Malpetti, Maura and Ewers, Michael and
Schöll, Michael and Dichgans, Martin and Höglinger,
Günter U and Brendel, Matthias and Jäkel, Sarah and
Franzmeier, Nicolai},
title = {{A}myloid-associated hyperconnectivity drives tau spread
across connected brain regions in {A}lzheimer's disease.},
journal = {Science translational medicine},
volume = {17},
number = {782},
issn = {1946-6234},
address = {Washington, DC},
publisher = {AAAS},
reportid = {DZNE-2025-00232},
pages = {eadp2564},
year = {2025},
abstract = {In Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyloid-β (Aβ) triggers the
aggregation and spreading of tau pathology, which drives
neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. However, the
pathophysiological link between Aβ and tau remains unclear,
which hinders therapeutic efforts to attenuate Aβ-related
tau accumulation. Aβ has been found to trigger neuronal
hyperactivity and hyperconnectivity, and preclinical
research has shown that tau spreads across connected neurons
in an activity-dependent manner. Here, we hypothesized that
neuronal hyperactivity and hypersynchronicity, resulting in
functional connectivity increases, constitute a crucial
mechanism by which Aβ facilitates the spreading of tau
pathology. By combining Aβ positron emission tomography
(PET), resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging,
and longitudinal tau-PET in 69 cognitively normal
amyloid-negative controls and 140 amyloid-positive patients
covering the AD spectrum, we confirmed that Aβ induces
hyperconnectivity of temporal lobe tau epicenters to
posterior brain regions that are vulnerable to tau
accumulation in AD. This was replicated in an independent
sample of 55 controls and 345 individuals with preclinical
AD and low cortical tau-PET uptake, suggesting that the
emergence of Aβ-related hyperconnectivity precedes
neocortical tau spreading . Last, using longitudinal tau-PET
and mediation analysis, we confirmed that these Aβ-related
connectivity increases in tau epicenters to typical
tau-vulnerable brain regions in AD mediated the effect of
Aβ on faster tau accumulation, unveiling increased
connectivity as a potential causal link between the two AD
hallmark pathologies. Together, these findings suggest that
Aβ promotes tau spreading by eliciting neuronal
hyperconnectivity and that targeting Aβ-related neuronal
hyperconnectivity may attenuate tau spreading in AD.},
keywords = {Humans / Alzheimer Disease: metabolism / Alzheimer Disease:
pathology / Alzheimer Disease: diagnostic imaging / tau
Proteins: metabolism / Brain: metabolism / Brain: diagnostic
imaging / Brain: pathology / Aged / Amyloid beta-Peptides:
metabolism / Positron-Emission Tomography / Male / Female /
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Middle Aged / Case-Control
Studies / Aged, 80 and over / tau Proteins (NLM Chemicals) /
Amyloid beta-Peptides (NLM Chemicals)},
cin = {AG Dichgans / Clinical Research (Munich)},
ddc = {500},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)5000022 / I:(DE-2719)1111015},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:39841807},
doi = {10.1126/scitranslmed.adp2564},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/276160},
}