Characterizing tau deposition in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE): utility of the McKee CTE staging scheme

The objective of this study was to test the utility of the McKee CTE staging scheme, and provide a detailed examination of the regional distribution of p-tau in CTE. We examined the relationship between the McKee CTE staging sche me and semi-quantitative and quantitative assessments of regional p-tau pathology, age at death, dementia, and years of American football play among 366 male brain donors neuropathologically diagnosed with CTE (mean age 61.86, SD 18.90). Spearman’s rho correlations showed that higher CTE stage was associated with higher scores on all semi-quantitative and quantitative assessments of p-tau severity and density (p’s <  0.001). The severity and distribution of CTE p-tau followed an age-dependent progression: older age was associated with increased odds for having a higher CTE stage (p <  0.001). CTE stage was independently associated with increased odds for dementia (p <  0.001). K-medoids cluster analysis of the semi-quantitative scales of p-tau across 14 regions identified 5 clusters of p-tau that conformed to increasing CTE stage (stage IV had 2 slightly different clusters), age at death, dementia, and years of American football play. There was a predilection f or p-tau pathology in five regions: dorsolateral frontal cortex (DLF), superior temporal cortex, entorhinal cortex, amygdala, and locus coeruleus (LC), with CTE in the youngest brain donors and lowest CTE stage restricted to DLF and LC. These findings support the usef...
Source: Acta Neuropathologica - Category: Neurology Source Type: research