Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association
October 1, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Integration of neuroimaging signatures of aging and Alzheimer's with fluid biomarkers.
Gonzales MM, Ho NH, Wang DH, +16 more, Habes M.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Imaging signatures of brain aging and Alzheimer's atrophy relate differently to plasma biomarkers, and combining them with plasma markers gave the best diagnostic discrimination and progression prediction.
What was studied
Analysis of T1 MRI from 1297 participants without dementia to derive SPARE-BA and SPARE-AD scores, tested against plasma biomarkers, diagnosis and clinical progression with partial correlations, logistic regression and Cox models.
Key findings
- SPARE-AD showed the strongest association with plasma phosphorylated tau 217
- SPARE-BA correlated most strongly with plasma neurofilament light
- Combining imaging signatures with plasma biomarkers gave the highest diagnostic discriminability and strongest association with progression
Clinical relevance
Supports multimodal approaches combining MRI-derived and blood biomarkers to detect and predict cognitive impairment.
Who should care
Limitations
Observational data with no accuracy figures in the abstract and no external replication stated.
Aging and AD imaging signatures capture different biology, and combined with plasma markers may improve prediction.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Machine learning algorithms applied to neuroimaging may aid diagnosis and disease monitoring. This study aimed to derive neuroimaging signatures of brain aging (Spatial Pattern of Atrophy for Recognition-Brain Age [SPARE-BA]) and Alzheimer's disease (SPARE-AD) in a diverse sample and to examine their associations with plasma biomarkers, diagnosis, and disease progression. SPARE-BA and SPARE-AD were calculated using T1-images from 1297 participants without dementia. Associations between neuroimaging signatures and plasma biomarkers were assessed with partial correlations. Logistic regression and cox proportional hazard models evaluated diagnostic accuracy and clinical progression. SPARE-AD displayed the strongest association with plasma phosphorylated tau 217, whereas SPARE-BA correlated most strongly with plasma neurofilament light. The combination of neuroimaging signatures with plasma biomarkers achieved the highest diagnostic discriminability and strongest associations with clinical progression. Neuroimaging signatures of aging and Alzheimer's disease display distinct associations with plasma biomarkers. Neuroimaging signatures combined with plasma biomarkers may improve the detection and prediction of cognitive impairment.
DOI
10.1002/alz.71889
PMID
42888952
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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