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Computerized Cognitive Tests Are Associated with Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease in Cognitively Normal Individuals 10 Years Prior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2016

Anja Soldan Open the ORCID record for Anja Soldan [Opens in a new window] ,
Corinne Pettigrew ,
Abhay Moghekar ,
Marilyn Albert  and
the BIOCARD Research Team
Anja Soldan*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Corinne Pettigrew
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Abhay Moghekar
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Marilyn Albert
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Anja Soldan, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1620 McElderry Street, Reed Hall 1-West, Baltimore, MD 21205. E-mail: asoldan1@jhmi.edu
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Abstract

Objectives: Evidence suggests that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers become abnormal many years before the emergence of clinical symptoms of AD, raising the possibility that biomarker levels measured in cognitively normal individuals would be associated with cognitive performance many years later. This study examined whether performance on computerized cognitive tests is associated with levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of amyloid, tau, and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) obtained approximately 10 years earlier, when individuals were cognitively normal and primarily middle-aged. Methods: Individuals from the BIOCARD cohort (mean age at testing=69 years) were tested on two computerized tasks hypothesized to rely on brain regions affected by the early accumulation of AD pathology: (1) a Paired Associates Learning (PAL) task (n=67) and (2) a visual search task (n=86). Results: In regression analyses, poorer performance on the PAL task was associated with higher levels of CSF p-tau obtained years earlier, whereas worse performance in the visual search task was associated with lower levels of CSF Aβ1-42. Conclusions: These findings suggest that AD biomarker levels may be differentially predictive of specific cognitive functions many years later. In line with the pattern of early accumulation of AD pathology, the PAL task, hypothesized to rely on medial temporal lobe function, was associated with CSF p-tau, whereas the visual search task, hypothesized to rely on frontoparietal function, was associated with CSF amyloid. Studies using amyloid and tau PET imaging will be useful in examining these hypothesized relationships further. (JINS, 2016, 22, 968–977)

Keywords

Cerebrospinal fluidAlzheimer’s diseasePreclinicalAmyloidPhosphorylated tauMemoryVisual perceptionCognition
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 22 , Special Issue 10: Special Issue: Preclinical Prediction , November 2016 , pp. 968 - 977
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2016 

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