Waning locus coeruleus integrity precedes cortical tau accrual in preclinical autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease

Introduction Autopsy studies recognize the locus coeruleus (LC) as one of the first sites accumulating tau in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent AD work related in vivo LC magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) integrity to tau and cognitive decline; however, relationships of LC integrity to age, tau, and cognition in autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) remain unexplored. Methods We associated LC integrity (3T-MRI) with estimated years of onset, cortical amyloid beta, regional tau (positron emission tomography [PET]) and memory (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) Word-List-Learning) among 27 carriers and 27 non-carriers of the presenilin-1 (PSEN1) E280A mutation. Longitudinal changes between LC integrity and tau were evaluated in 10 carriers. Results LC integrity started to decline at age 32 in carriers, 12 years before clinical onset, and 20 years earlier than in sporadic AD. LC integrity was negatively associated with cortical tau, independent of amyloid beta, and predicted precuneus tau increases. LC integrity was positively associated with memory. Discussion These findings support LC integrity as marker of disease progression in preclinical ADAD.