Retinal vascular biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease

The earliest detectable change in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the buildup of amyloid plaque in the brain. Early detection of AD, prior to irreversible neurological damage, is important for the efficacy of current interventions as well as for the development of new treatments. Although PiB-PET i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Translational psychiatry 2013-02, Vol.3 (2), p.e233-e233
Main Authors: Frost, S, Kanagasingam, Y, Sohrabi, H, Vignarajan, J, Bourgeat, P, Salvado, O, Villemagne, V, Rowe, C C, Macaulay, S Lance, Szoeke, C, Ellis, K A, Ames, D, Masters, C L, Rainey-Smith, S, Martins, R N, AIBL Research Group
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Alzheimer Disease - complications
Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis
Analysis of Variance
Australia
Biomarkers
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Cohort Studies
Disease Progression
Early Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Male
Original
Photography - methods
Plaque, Amyloid - diagnostic imaging
Positron-Emission Tomography - methods
Reproducibility of Results
Retinal Artery
Retinal Diseases - complications
Retinal Diseases - diagnosis
Retinal Vein
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Summary:The earliest detectable change in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the buildup of amyloid plaque in the brain. Early detection of AD, prior to irreversible neurological damage, is important for the efficacy of current interventions as well as for the development of new treatments. Although PiB-PET imaging and CSF amyloid are the gold standards for early AD diagnosis, there are practical limitations for population screening. AD-related pathology occurs primarily in the brain, but some of the hallmarks of the disease have also been shown to occur in other tissues, including the retina, which is more accessible for imaging. Retinal vascular changes and degeneration have previously been reported in AD using optical coherence tomography and laser Doppler techniques. This report presents results from analysis of retinal photographs from AD and healthy control participants from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Flagship Study of Ageing. This is the first study to investigate retinal blood vessel changes with respect to amyloid plaque burden in the brain. We demonstrate relationships between retinal vascular parameters, neocortical brain amyloid plaque burden and AD. A number of RVPs were found to be different in AD. Two of these RVPs, venular branching asymmetry factor and arteriolar length-to-diameter ratio, were also higher in healthy individuals with high plaque burden (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02 respectively, after false discovery rate adjustment). Retinal photographic analysis shows potential as an adjunct for early detection of AD or monitoring of AD-progression or response to treatments.
ISSN:2158-3188
2158-3188
DOI:10.1038/tp.2012.150