PET Finding May Precede Clinical Onset of Alzheimer's Disease.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 09 - Binding of a PET imaging tracer called [11-C]PIB to various brain regions may be able to identify people destined to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the August 8th issue of Neurology.
Previous reports have shown that [11-C]PIB (for carbon-11 labeled Pittsburgh Compound B) binds to beta-amyloid plaques and that patients with Alzheimer's dementia display increased binding compared with nondemented controls. However, it was unclear if elevated [11-C]PIB binding was also seen in clinically normal patients who would later develop Alzheimer's disease.
To investigate, Dr. Mark A. Mintun, from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues performed PET brain imaging with [11-C]PIB in 41 nondemented subjects and in 10 patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The nondemented subjects ranged in age from 10 to 86 years, while the Alzheimer's patients were between 66 and 86 years old.
Consistent with previous reports, increased [11-C]PIB binding was seen in the Alzheimer's patients compared with nondemented subjects. However, four of the nondemented subjects displayed binding that, as a group, was not significantly different from that of their Alzheimer's counterparts. In fact, two of these subjects had binding that was indistinguishable from that of Alzheimer's patients.
Now, time will tell. "Longitudinal studies will be required to determine the association of elevated [11-C]PIB binding and risk of developing dementia of the Alzheimer type," the authors point out.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 09 - Binding of a PET imaging tracer called [11-C]PIB to various brain regions may be able to identify people destined to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the August 8th issue of Neurology.
Previous reports have shown that [11-C]PIB (for carbon-11 labeled Pittsburgh Compound B) binds to beta-amyloid plaques and that patients with Alzheimer's dementia display increased binding compared with nondemented controls. However, it was unclear if elevated [11-C]PIB binding was also seen in clinically normal patients who would later develop Alzheimer's disease.
To investigate, Dr. Mark A. Mintun, from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues performed PET brain imaging with [11-C]PIB in 41 nondemented subjects and in 10 patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The nondemented subjects ranged in age from 10 to 86 years, while the Alzheimer's patients were between 66 and 86 years old.
Consistent with previous reports, increased [11-C]PIB binding was seen in the Alzheimer's patients compared with nondemented subjects. However, four of the nondemented subjects displayed binding that, as a group, was not significantly different from that of their Alzheimer's counterparts. In fact, two of these subjects had binding that was indistinguishable from that of Alzheimer's patients.
Now, time will tell. "Longitudinal studies will be required to determine the association of elevated [11-C]PIB binding and risk of developing dementia of the Alzheimer type," the authors point out.
posted by Valery Yermalitsky at
6:29 AM
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