Neuroinflammation common in familial frontotemporal dementia
The findings bring hope that drugs that reduce neuroinflammation might be beneficial, researchers say
Neuroinflammation appears to be a typical feature of the three most common monogenic forms of familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD), according to a UK case series.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge used PET with a specific radioligand, [11C]PK11195, which binds to activated microglia and measures neuroinflammation, in seven patients with symptomatic familial FTD from MAPT, GRN or C9orf72 gene mutations.
One fifth of FTD cases are autosomal dominant and typically arise from mutations in these three genes, the authors noted in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
They also quantified the distribution of tau or TDP-43 pathology, indexed using the radioligand [18F]AV-1451.
