Early peripheral immune signaling precedes tau elevation and blood-brain barrier disruption in Alzheimer's disease

AbstractNeuroinflammation, along with amyloid beta (A{beta}) deposition, phospho-tau (ptau) accumulation, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, and cognitive decline are recognized components of Alzheimers disease (AD). However, the timing and nature of peripheral immune changes across AD biological and clinical stages remain poorly understood. Here we performed mass cytometry profiling of whole blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) immune cells from 351 human samples across two independent clinical cohorts spanning the AD continuum. We identify coordinated peripheral immune signaling signatures that emerge during preclinical stage of AD and precede significant elevation of plasma ptau217, CSF ptau181 and BBB disruption measured by dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). AD-enriched immune features, including increased phospho-Akt signaling in nai ve T killer cells and phospho-PLC{gamma}2 signaling in granulocytes, were not observed in patients with Frontotemporal lobar degeneration or treatment-nai ve multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, these immune signaling states could be induced in healthy donor immune cells following exposure to plasma or CSF from individuals with AD, indicating that circulating factors can drive these peripheral immune alterations. Together, our findings demonstrate that dynamic peripheral immune state changes arise early in AD and precede canonical biomarker and vascular changes, highlighting immune signaling pathways as potential targets for early therapeutic intervention. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=187 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/716122v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (40K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f5060corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@600ba7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@19d281dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b4a36a_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG Early peripheral immune signaling precedes tau elevation and blood-brain barrier disruption in Alzheimers disease. C_FIG