BDNF Val66Met, Aβ amyloid, and cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease

Authors

• Yen Ying Lim
• Victor Villemagne
• Simon Laws, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• David Ames
• Robert Pietrzak
• Kathryn Ellis
• Karra Harrington
• Pierrick Bourgeat
• Olivier Salvado
• David Darby
• Peter Snyder
• Ashley Bush
• Ralph N. Martins, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
• Colin Masters
• Christopher Rowe
• Pradeep Nathan
• Paul Maruff

Document Type

Journal Article

Keywords

BDNF Val66Met, beta-Amyloid, Cognitive decline, Hippocampal atrophy, Aβ accumulation, Preclinical Alzheimer's disease, Healthy older adults

Publisher

Elsevier

Faculty

Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science

School

School of Medical Sciences / Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care

RAS ID

17022

Comments

Lim, Y., Villemagne, V., Laws, S. , Ames, D., Pietrzak, R., Ellis, K., Harrington, K., Bourgeat, P., Salvado, O., Darby, D., Snyder, P., Bush, A., Martins, R. N., Masters, C., Rowe, C., Nathan, P., & Maruff, P. (2013). BDNF Val66Met, Aβ amyloid, and cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 34(11), 2457-2464. Available here

Abstract

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism has previously been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD)–related cognitive impairment. We aimed to determine the relationship between BDNFVal66Met and beta-amyloid (Aβ) on cognitive decline, hippocampal atrophy, and Aβ accumulation over 36 months in 165 healthy adults enrolled in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle study. In healthy adults with high Aβ, Met carriers showed significant and moderate-to-large declines in episodic memory, executive function, and language, and greater hippocampal atrophy over 36 months, compared with Val/Val homozygotes. BDNFVal66Met was not found to be related to rates of change in cognition or hippocampal volume in healthy adults with low Aβ. BDNFVal66Met did not relate to the amount of Aβ or to the rate of Aβ accumulation in either group. High Aβ levels coupled with Met carriage may be useful prognostic markers of accelerated cognitive decline and hippocampal degeneration in individuals in the preclinical stage of AD.