Associations of regional amyloid-ß plaque and phospho-tau pathology with biological factors and neuropsychological functioning among HIV-infected adults.

ABSTRACT

With increasing age, the general population is increasingly vulnerable to the development of cerebral amyloid-ß (Aß) plaque and neuronal phospho-tau (p-tau) pathology. In HIV disease, prior studies of these neuropathologic changes were relatively limited. Here, we characterized Aß plaques and p-tau lesions by immunohistochemistry in relevant brain regions (prefrontal neocortex, putamen, basal-temporal neocortex, and hippocampus) of HIV-infected adults. We used multivariable logistic regression to predict regional Aß plaque or p-tau pathology based on demographic factors, apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes, HIV disease-related factors, and regional gliosis. We used multiple linear regression to predict T-scores in neuropsychological domains based on regional Aß plaque or p-tau pathology. We found that APOE ε4 alleles, older age, and higher plasma HIV-1 RNA predicted prefrontal Aß plaques (odds ratio (OR) 5.306, 1.045, and 0.699, respectively, n = 168). Older age predicted putamen Aß plaques (OR 1.064, n = 171). APOE ε4 alleles, hepatitis C virus seropositivity, and higher plasma HIV-1 RNA predicted hippocampus Aß plaques (OR 6.779, 6.138, and 0.589, respectively, n = 56). The p-tau lesions were sparse in the vast majority of affected cases. Lifetime substance use disorder and higher plasma HIV-1 RNA predicted putamen p-tau lesions (OR 0.278 and 0.638, respectively, n = 67). Older age and gliosis predicted hippocampus p-tau lesions (OR 1.128 and 0.592, respectively, n = 59). Prefrontal Aß plaques predicted lower speed of information processing (n = 159) and putamen Aß plaques predicted lower levels of attention and working memory (n = 88). Regional p-tau lesions were not significantly predictive of any neuropsychological domains. In conclusion, Aß plaque or p-tau pathology in different brain regions was predicted by different sets of biological factors. Aß plaques in prefrontal neocortex and putamen predicted poorer functioning in cognitive domains relevant to these brain regions. The absence of significant impact of regional p-tau lesions on neuropsychological functioning might be explained by the subthreshold burden of p-tau lesions.