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BACKGROUND: In mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD)-type cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker profiles predict rapid progression and conversion to AD. An increased brain amyloid burden in AD and MCI has been demonstrated with PET using (11)CPIB (Pittsburgh compound B). Little is known about the relationship between these biomarkers in MCI. METHODS: We studied 15 patients with amnestic MCI and 22 controls with PET using (11)CPIB. In MCI patients, CSF levels of Abeta42, pTAU, totalTAU and the Abeta42/pTAU ratio were measured. RESULTS: In MCI patients, CSF Abeta42 was abnormal in 53% of patients, totalTAU in 67%, pTAU in 64% and the Abeta42/pTAU ratio in 64%. A composite neocortical (11)CPIB uptake score was increased in 87% of the MCI patients. Only 54% of (11)CPIB-positive subjects showed AD-type Abeta42 values. During a 2-year follow-up, 6 MCI patients converted to AD, all of them had increased neocortical PIB scores at the MCI stage. Abnormal CSF Abeta42 was found in 3 patients, pTAU in 3 patients and Abeta42/pTAU ratio in 4 patients. CONCLUSION: Follow-up studies are needed to confirm whether (11)CPIB uptake might be more sensitive than CSF Abeta42 concentration in detecting increased amyloid burden in MCI, as suggested by the results of this study.
Koivunen et al. (Tue,) studied this question.