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TAR DNA-binding protein 43 pathology in Alzheimer's disease with psychosis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2014
Abstract
TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) has been identified as a major disease protein in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. More recently, TDP-43 proteinopathy has also been observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) with a characteristic distribution of TDP-43 predominantly in the mesial temporal lobe, and to a lesser degree in the neocortical areas. AD subjects with psychotic symptoms (AD+P) represent a subgroup characterized by greater impairment of frontal cortex-dependent cognitive functions and more severe frontal cortical neuropathology. The aim of this study is to determine whether there is an association between TDP-43 pathology and AD+P. We hypothesized that TDP-43 pathology would be more frequent in AD+P than in AD without psychosis.
We studied the presence and distribution of TDP-43 pathology by immunohistochemistry in the dentate gyrus (DG) and prefrontal cortex (FC) of postmortem brain specimens from 68 subjects with a primary neuropathologic diagnosis of AD as determined by the Neuropathology Core of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
Forty-five (66%) subjects were classified as AD+P. Fourteen (20.6%) subjects had TDP-43 pathology in DG, eight (11.8%) had TDP-43 pathology in FC, and six (8.8%) had TDP-43 pathology in both regions. TDP-43 in DG was not significantly associated with AD+P. However, TDP-43 in FC demonstrated a trend toward reduced likelihood of psychosis (p = 0.068). TDP-43 pathology in DG, but not FC, was significantly associated with greater age at death and longer duration of illness.
Our findings indicate that there was no association between concomitant TDP-43 pathology in DG or FC and AD+P.
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- Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014
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