Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Neuroimaging (non-PD)
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: This study was aimed at evaluating pathological tau accumulations in the brains of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and young and old healthy subjects using positron emission topography (PET) and a specific radioligand, [11C]PBB3.
Background: Deposition of tau proteins is critically implicated in PSP. We investigated distribution of PET-detectable tau lesions in PSP patients and its association with the disease progression.
Methods: Fourteen PSP patients (age ± SD: 71.9 ± 7.7 y), 11 young and 13 old healthy subjects (34.4 ± 7.0 y and 68.0 ± 4.3 y, respectively) underwent clinical evaluations, magnetic resonance scans, and [11C]PBB3-PET scans. All participants had negative amyloid β peptide (Aβ) scans. We investigated [11C]PBB3 binding in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) regions by generating parametric images of binding potential (BP*ND). Additionally, we evaluated PSP brain tissue samples by triple staining including PBB3 fluorescent, AT8 immunohistochemical and Gallyas silver staining.
Results: PSP patients showed significantly elevated BP*ND in the whole GM and WM compared with young and old healthy subjects. 
Notably, BP*ND values of [11C]PBB3 in WM of the frontoparietal cortices were significantly correlated with the motor symptoms of PSP patients (p < 0.05). Histochemically, PBB3 fluorescently labeled numerous neuritic and glial tau inclusions in PSP frontal GM and WM, which were also stained with phospho-tau antibody and Gallyas silver impregnation.
Conclusions: In clear distinction from Alzheimer’s disease cases, PSP patients exhibited deposition of PBB3(+) tau in both GM and WM. Regional radioligand binding provided an objective measure of the disease severity, potentially serving for therapeutic assessments.
H. Shimada, M. Higuchi, and T. Suhara hold a patent on compounds including PBB3 (PCT/JP2012/083286).
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
H. Endo, H. Shimada, Y. Kimura, M. Ichise, M. Ono, H. Shinotoh, F. Niwa, S. Kitamura, K. Takahata, S. Hirano, S. Koga, D.W. Dickson, N. Sahara, M. Yamada, M. Higuchi, T. Toda, T. Suhara. In vivo evaluation of tau pathologies in patient with progressive supranuclear palsy and healthy subjects with [11C]PBB3-PET [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/in-vivo-evaluation-of-tau-pathologies-in-patient-with-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-and-healthy-subjects-with-11cpbb3-pet/. Accessed May 13, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/in-vivo-evaluation-of-tau-pathologies-in-patient-with-progressive-supranuclear-palsy-and-healthy-subjects-with-11cpbb3-pet/