{"id":"doi:10.1007/s00259-026-08015-w","kind":"article","title":"[<sup>18</sup>F]RO948 Tau PET in early and late onset Alzheimer's disease: associations with plasma p-tau 217, atrophy and cognition","authors":["Zapater-Fajari M","Bucci M","Chiotis K","Almkvist O","Wall A","Eriksson J","Antoni G","Pola I","Tan K","Traichel W","Benedet AL","Ashton NJ","Zetterberg H","Bogdanovic N","Nordberg A"],"author_count":15,"year":2026,"published":"2026-06-26","venue":"European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging","cited_by":0,"doi":"10.1007/s00259-026-08015-w","arxiv_id":null,"nct_id":null,"source_url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-026-08015-w","archive_url":"https://space-kitty.com/papers/doi:10.1007/s00259-026-08015-w","updated":null,"pmid":"42360329","pmcid":"PMC13633377","openalex_id":null,"pdf_url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13633377/pdf","abstract":"Purpose The aim of this study was to compare regional brain tau extent across the disease spectrum in early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease using the second-generation tau PET tracer [ 18 F]RO948, and to investigate the relationship between PET-derived patterns, plasma p-tau217, brain atrophy, and cognition. Methods We examined 57 participants: 39 patients from the Cognitive Assessment Unit at Karolinska University Hospital (Stockholm/Sweden)-diagnosed as MCI Aβ- (n = 10), MCI Aβ + (n = 16; 8 EO and 6 LO), and AD (n = 13; 5 EOAD and 8 LOAD)-and 18 cognitively normal controls. All participants underwent [ 18 F]RO948 tau-PET, structural MRI, cognitive testing, and plasma p-tau217 analysis. Results Both EO and LO MCI (Aß +) showed higher [ 18 F]RO948 binding in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus (p < 0.001) and extending to inferior temporal regions (p < 0.01) compared to controls, with some MCI-EO cases already showing advanced neocortical tau burden. At the AD stage, EOAD patients showed greater neocortical tau extent in temporo-parietal and frontal cortices than LOAD. P‑tau217 positively correlated with [ 18 F]RO948 in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus (rho = 0.81) followed by temporal (rho = 0.71), and parietal cortices (rho = 0.56, all p < 0.001). The Tau‑PET/p-tau217 association was different between EOAD and LOAD with greater differences in parietal cortices. Tau‑PET also showed stronger region‑specific associations with cognitive impairment than p‑tau217, especially in EOAD. Conclusions [ 18 F]RO948-PET captured interindividual heterogeneity in tau accumulation that was not reflected by plasma p-tau217. This dissociation was particularly evident in neocortical regions, where LOAD showed elevated plasma p-tau217 levels despite low tau PET binding. These findings highlight the value of tau-PET as a sensitive biomarker for detecting early disease heterogeneity, assessing disease severity, and improving patient stratification for disease-modifying treatments.","abstract_license":"CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)","license":"CC-BY","is_open_access":true,"retracted":false,"peer_reviewed":null,"categories":[],"details":null,"provenance":"europepmc","attribution":"Abstract of \"[<sup>18</sup>F]RO948 Tau PET in early and late onset Alzheimer's disease: associations with plasma p-tau 217, atrophy and cognition\" by Zapater-Fajari M, Bucci M, Chiotis K et al., https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-026-08015-w, used under its Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY); markup removed, otherwise unmodified.","topics":[{"slug":"neurodegeneration","name":"Alzheimer's, Parkinson's & Neurodegeneration","domain_slug":"medicine"}],"cited_in_dossiers":[]}