Characterization of Japanese-American men with a single neocortical AD lesion type

Petrovitch, Helen; Ross, G. Webster; He, Qimei; Uyehara-Lock, Jane; Markesbery, William; Davis, Daron; Nelson, James; Masaki, Kamal; Launer, Lenore; White, Lon R.

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2007.03.026

« Previous Next »Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 10 , Pages 1448-1455, October 2008

Characterization of Japanese-American men with a single neocortical AD lesion type

Helen Petrovitch
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu Department of Veteran's Affairs, Spark M. Matsunaga Medical & Regional Office Center, 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
- Department of Geriatrics, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
- Corresponding author at: 846 South Hotel Street, Suite 307, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA. Tel.: +1 808 564 5420; fax: +1 808 524 4315.
G. Webster Ross
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu Department of Veteran's Affairs, Spark M. Matsunaga Medical & Regional Office Center, 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
- Department of Geriatrics, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Qimei He
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu Department of Veteran's Affairs, Spark M. Matsunaga Medical & Regional Office Center, 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
Jane Uyehara-Lock
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
William Markesbery
- Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
Daron Davis
- Pathology and Cytology Laboratories, 290 Big Run Road, Lexington, KY 40503, USA
James Nelson
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
Kamal Masaki
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
- Department of Geriatrics, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Lenore Launer
- Division of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biostatistics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Building 31, Room 5C27, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2292, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Lon R. White
- Pacific Health Research Institute, 846 South Hotel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
- Honolulu Department of Veteran's Affairs, Spark M. Matsunaga Medical & Regional Office Center, 459 Patterson Road, Honolulu, HI 96819, USA
- Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, Kuakini Medical Center, 347 North Kuakini Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA
- Department of Geriatrics, University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

Received 20 April 2006; received in revised form 22 March 2007; accepted 30 March 2007. published online 14 May 2007.

Abstract

Neocortical neuritic plaques (NP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and usually, both are present. The Honolulu-Asia Aging Study autopsy series includes a significant number of individuals with only one neocortical AD lesion type. These could represent an early phase of the AD process. If so, such individuals would be expected to share other clinical and pathological features of AD. We compared frequency of apolipoprotein epsilon E4 (APOE4) allele, average Braak stage, and burden of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) among the two single lesion type groups, a group without AD lesions, and groups with high and low frequencies of both AD lesions. Single AD lesion groups shared only the characteristics associated with their unique lesion type with the combined AD lesion group and did not have higher prevalence of dementia than the no AD lesion group. Only the NP+NFT group showed a “dose–response” relationship with greater probability of dementia with higher neocortical frequencies of either AD lesion. The single neocortical AD lesion groups do not appear to represent early AD.