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@INPROCEEDINGS{Valentim:283094,
author = {Valentim, Carolina and Denecke, Jannis and Frerich, Simon
and Malik, Rainer and Franzmeier, Nicolai and Ewers,
Michael},
title = {{P}olygenic risk scores modify the association between
amyloid and tau {PET} accumulation in patients with
{A}lzheimer’s disease},
journal = {Alzheimer's and dementia},
volume = {21},
number = {Suppl 8},
issn = {1552-5260},
reportid = {DZNE-2025-01501},
pages = {e110860},
year = {2025},
abstract = {Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a
larger number of genetic variants that are associated with
increased risk of AD dementia. The biological pathways that
underlie the link between SNPs and the development of core
AD pathologies remain however unclear. Here, we generated
pathway-specific polygenic risk scores to test their
modulating effect on the association between amyloid-beta
(Aβ) chronicity and tau deposition in patients with AD.We
analysed 295 amyloid-PET-positive participants from ADNI
(mean age 76.5 ± 7.6; 165 CU, 85 MCI, 45 Dementia) with
cross-sectional genetic, cognitive, and tau-PET (AV1451) and
Aβ-PET (Florbetapir and Florbetaben) data. We identified in
a meta-analysis of recent genome-wide association studies
(GWAS) 388 independent SNPs associated with AD. We computed
six pathway-specific PRS based on gene set enrichment
analysis identifying the pathways implicating amyloid beta,
immune activation, endocytosis/transport, clearance and
signal transduction (Figure 1). Aβ-chronicity was estimated
using the Sampled Iterative Local Approximation (SILA)
technique (Betthauser et al., 2022), which infers the
temporal trajectory and extent of amyloid accumulation by
aligning PET-derived amyloid burden across longitudinal data
points. Robust linear regression (Huber method) models
assessed interactions between SILA-derived Aβ-chronicity
and tau-PET uptake in Braak-stage ROIs (I, III-IV, and
V-VI), controlling APOE-ε4 status, age, sex and education.
Outliers were defined as three standard deviations from the
mean.Significant interactions between Aβ-chronicity and
pathway-PRS for amyloid beta and endocytosis/transport were
observed, with higher genetic risk amplifying the
association between longer amyloid exposure and tau
accumulation in Braak-stage ROIs III-IV $\&$ V-VI (p <
0.03). Effects remained significant after the removal of
predefined outliers (p < 0.02).Our findings indicate that
genetic variations, particularly within the amyloid-beta and
endocytosis/transport pathways, strengthen the association
between longer amyloid exposure and increased tau pathology.
The significance of the amyloid-beta pathway suggests a
direct genetic contribution to amyloid-driven tau
accumulation, whereas the endocytosis/transport pathway
findings support the hypothesis that amyloid-tau
interactions at the synaptic level drive AD progression.
These results align with prior evidence on mechanistic links
between amyloid and tau pathology in AD.},
month = {Jul},
date = {2025-07-27},
organization = {Alzheimer’s Association
International Conference, Toronto
(Canada), 27 Jul 2025 - 31 Jul 2025},
keywords = {Humans / Alzheimer Disease: genetics / Alzheimer Disease:
diagnostic imaging / Alzheimer Disease: metabolism / Male /
Aged / Female / Genome-Wide Association Study /
Positron-Emission Tomography / Amyloid beta-Peptides:
metabolism / tau Proteins: metabolism / Aged, 80 and over /
Cross-Sectional Studies / Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide /
Brain: diagnostic imaging / Brain: metabolism / Aniline
Compounds / Ethylene Glycols / Amyloid beta-Peptides (NLM
Chemicals) / tau Proteins (NLM Chemicals) / Aniline
Compounds (NLM Chemicals) / florbetapir (NLM Chemicals) /
Ethylene Glycols (NLM Chemicals)},
cin = {Clinical Research (Munich)},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1111015},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)1 / PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:41433394},
pmc = {pmc:PMC12725496},
doi = {10.1002/alz70862_110860},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/283094},
}