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Characterizing the Clinical Features and Atrophy Patterns of MAPT-Related Frontotemporal Dementia With Disease
Alexandra L Young1, Martina Bocchetta1, Lucy L Russell1
1From the Department of Neuroimaging (A.L.Y., S.C.R.W.), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; Departments of Computer Science (A.L.Y., D.C.A.) and Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (D.M.C.), Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London; Dementia Research Centre (M.B., L.L.R., R.S.C., G.P., E.T., D.M.C., C.V.G., L.J., J.D.R.), Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK; Department of Neurology (J.v.S., L.J., H.S.), Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Cognitive Disorders Unit (F.M.), Department of Neurology, Donostia University Hospital; Neuroscience Area (F.M.), Biodonostia Health Research Institute, San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa, Spain; Alzheimer's Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit (R.S.-V.), Neurology Service, Hospital Clínic, Institut d'Investigacións Biomèdiques August Pi I Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Spain; Neurology Unit (B.B.), Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Italy; Clinique Interdisciplinaire de Mémoire, Département des Sciences Neurologiques, CHU de Québec, and Faculté de Médecine (R.L.), Université Laval, Québec; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Sunnybrook Research Institute (M.M.), and Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (M.C.T.), University of Toronto, Canada; Center for Alzheimer Research (C.G.), Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Bioclinicum, Karolinska Institutet; Unit for Hereditary Dementias (C.G.), Theme Aging, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden; Fondazione Ca'Granda (D.G.), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico; University of Milan (D.G.), Centro Dino Ferrari, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (J.B.R.), University of Cambridge, UK; Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences (E.F.), University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases (M.S.), Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research and Center of Neurology, University of Tübingen; Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) (M.S.), Tübingen, Germany; Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences (R.V.), and Leuven Brain Institute (R.V.), KU Leuven; Neurology Service (R.V.), University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine (A.d.M.), University of Lisbon, Portugal; Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta (F.T.), Milan, Italy; University Hospital of Coimbra (HUC), Neurology Service (I.S.), and Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (I.S.), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University Health Centre (S.D.), and McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute (S.D.), McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (C.B.), Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford; Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology (A.G.), Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre, University of Manchester, UK; Departments of Geriatric Medicine and Nuclear Medicine (A.G.), University of Duisburg-Essen; Department of Neurology (J.L., A.D.), Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) (J.L.); Munich Cluster of Systems Neurology (SyNergy) (J.L.), Munich; Department of Neurology (M.O.), University of Ulm, Germany; Departments of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research, and Child Health (S.S.), University of Florence; and IRCCS Don Gnocchi (S.S.), Florence, Italy.
Background And Objective:
Mutations in the MAPT gene cause frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Most previous studies investigating the neuroanatomical signature of MAPT mutations have grouped all different mutations together and shown an association with focal atrophy of the temporal lobe. The variability in atrophy patterns between each particular MAPT mutation is less well-characterized. We aimed to investigate whether there were distinct groups of MAPT mutation carriers based on their neuroanatomical signature.
Methods:
We applied Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn), an unsupervised machine learning technique that identifies groups of individuals with distinct progression patterns, to characterize patterns of regional atrophy in MAPT-associated FTD within the Genetic FTD Initiative (GENFI) cohort study.
Results:
Eighty-two MAPT mutation carriers were analyzed, the majority of whom had P301L, IVS10+16, or R406W mutations, along with 48 healthy noncarriers. SuStaIn identified 2 groups of MAPT mutation carriers with distinct atrophy patterns: a temporal subtype, in which atrophy was most prominent in the hippocampus, amygdala, temporal cortex, and insula; and a frontotemporal subtype, in which atrophy was more localized to the lateral temporal lobe and anterior insula, as well as the orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate. There was one-to-one mapping between IVS10+16 and R406W mutations and the temporal subtype and near one-to-one mapping between P301L mutations and the frontotemporal subtype. There were differences in clinical symptoms and neuropsychological test scores between subtypes: the temporal subtype was associated with amnestic symptoms, whereas the frontotemporal subtype was associated with executive dysfunction.
Conclusion:
Our results demonstrate that different MAPT mutations give rise to distinct atrophy patterns and clinical phenotype, providing insights into the underlying disease biology and potential utility for patient stratification in therapeutic trials.
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