Additional Factor in Alzheimer’s Pathology

A recent paper has proposed white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) as a factor underpinning the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. Traditionally, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are cited as crucial elements in the neurodegenerative disease, whereas this recent research, published in JAMA Neuroscience by Brickman et al. has also implicated small vessel cerebrovascular disease.

Using data obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (an on-line, publicly accessible database of Alzheimer’s Disease neuroimaging), the researchers from the ‘Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain’ compared β-amyloid plaques and WMHs prevalence in healthy age-matched controls, individuals with mild cognitive defects and Alzheimer’s Disease .  WMHs are regions of high density in structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which are seen to increase in normal aging and were used by Brickman and colleagues as a measure of cardiovascular disease. Amyloid plaques were detected using Pittsburgh Compound B (PIB) Positron Emission Tomography.

The results revealed that WMHs were as predictive of Alzheimer’s Disease as amyloid plaques. They also found that the cardiovascular disease measure was as predictive as plaques of whether individuals with mild cognitive impairment would develop Alzheimer’s. (Those with mild cognitive impairment have an increased likelihood of developing dementia).  The paper’s authors hope that a link between WMHs and Alzheimer’s Disease may prove to be a useful clinical target as the risk of cardiovascular disease can be minimized by a healthier lifestyle.