The study provides the most definitive assessment of the new non-Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky recently Acta Neuropathologica Classified in 2019 and now known as LATE, it is the most definitive assessment of the prevalence of dementia to date. The results show that the prevalence of brain changes due to LATE can be as high as 40% in the elderly and as high as 50% in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

This is a basic question about any illness or condition. “How common is it in people’s brains?” And answering that question is seemingly challenging. “

Dr. Pete Nelson, Ph.D., Neuropathologist, Chairman of the RC Durr Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease, UK

In 2019, Nelson and a large group of international experts collaborated to name this new form of dementia limbic-dominated age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE).

Data for this new study came from 13 existing community and population-based study cohorts. The study included autopsy, genetic and clinical data from over 6,000 brains. Samples and data show five different countries across three continents. The results showed that more than one-third of the brain had LATE pathology.

Symptoms of LATE mimic Alzheimer’s disease by causing memory loss and problems of thinking and reasoning in old age. However, researchers have found that LATE-affected brains look different from Alzheimer’s disease brains, and treatments that work for one may not work for the other.

Ten NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers, including the University of Kentucky, were represented and collaborated as a large and consistent team. In addition to these US centers, two cohorts from the United Kingdom and one cohort each from Brazil, Austria, and Finland participated in this study.

“Not only is the scale of this complex analysis important, but the fact that the people who participated in the study that led to the donation to the brain were obtained from a longitudinal study of the study population. This is a LATE for dementia. We can say more about the contributions of the elderly. This is quite different from most effective studies from individuals who do not have that fixation, “said a British scholar at Cambridge University in Public Health. Carol Brain, a professor of medicine, said. “The findings of LATE are especially important because dementia is most common in the elderly. There are many differences in the studies combined here, but everything from design to methodology reveals the importance of LATE. And that our findings are relevant across individual countries and regions of the world. “

In addition to Kentucky University, other US Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers involved in this study include Northwestern University Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, May York Clinic (both MN and FL campuses), Duke University, and the University of California (Davis). Schools), universities are included. University of California (Irvine), University of California (San Francisco), University of Washington, Stanford University.

“It’s unprecedented to include so many quality cohorts from around the world. Every research center has its own bias and blind spot when it comes to recruiting research volunteers,” Nelson said. “Progress requires inter-institutional and cross-border cooperation. The NIH / NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center leverages its interdisciplinary resources and is a respected international collaborator. Brought their own extraordinary expertise. “

There have been previous reports of LATE from individual research centers and various groups, but no previous study summarizing findings from many community-based autopsy cohorts.

Nelson finally states that this study helps show that LATE is a very common cause of catastrophic clinical syndrome, often referred to as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. While looking at the findings, Nelson and other researchers showed that LATE is more common in the brain with severe Alzheimer’s disease neuropathological changes (ADNC)-severe ADNC cases. Had more than half of the LATE.

With the focus on LATE and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease in the world’s first clinical trial of LATE currently underway at the University of Kentucky, Nelson said the basic information gained through such studies is important. It states that there is. “This helps to formulate important questions such as” who should be hired for research and what to look for. ” It also provides a guide on how to better study LATE and Alzheimer’s disease when these two brain disorders are frequently found in the same person. “

There is progress, but there are still many knowledge gaps.

“More information is needed in a more diverse cohort. People with African or Asian heritage were relatively undersampled in this study. So far, people with different ethnic backgrounds are in LATE. The risks don’t look different, but this requires more work. An important area. “