PET imaging studies have shown that spatially distributed measurements of β-amyloid are significantly correlated with glucose metabolism in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) independently of the APOE ε4 genotype.
In contrast, the relationship between tau and glucose has not been fully understood yet. Preliminary studies suggested that tau could be simply considered a mediator between β-amyloid and neurodegeneration, despite some other results suggesting a more complex interpretation and pointing to a synergistic interaction between neocortical tau and β-amyloid in relation to glucose metabolism.
To assess the effects of tau, β-amyloid, and APOE ε4 genotype on glucose metabolism, we employ the multivariate technique of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). The SVD approach produces uncorrelated, canonical correlation components in the spatially distributed-to-distributed organization of the linear association between two modalities.
In this presentation, we explore the complex relationship between misfolded proteins and glucose hypometabolism in Alzheimer's disease. We hypothesize that spatially distributed scores of tau PET are associated with an even stronger reduction of glucose metabolism than that associated with β-amyloid, independently of the APOE ε4 genotype. To test this hypothesis, we have analyzed Tau, Amyloid, and FDG PET imaging data from MCI subjects in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study using a Singular Value Decomposition approach.