4,068 posters, 219 videos, 101 topics, 69 sessions, 14,365 authors, 6,128 institutions

Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2026

July 12-15, 2026 | London, United Kingdom, and Online

13011

Comparison Of Mk6240 And Flortaucipir In Mapping Tau Extent And Memory Decline

View Poster Contact Presenter

Poster Presenter

Livia Amaral

Authors

Livia Amaral, Guilherme Povala, Bruna Bellaver, Firoza Z. Lussier, Pamela C. L. Ferreira, Douglas T. Leffa, Guilherme Bauer-Negrini, Joseph Masdeu, Dana Tudorascu, David Soleimani-Meigooni, Juan Fortrea, Val Lowe, Hwamee Oh, Belen Pascual, Brian Gordon, Pedro Rosa-Neto, Suzanne Baker, Tharick A. Pascoal

Affiliations

Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory, McGill University Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Douglas Research Institute, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Memory and Aging Center, University of California San Francisco, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley

Part of Topic

Biomarkers -> Neuroimaging -> Disease progression measures

Introduction

•Flortaucipir and MK6240 are among the most used tau PET tracers, but differences in their binding affinities and tracer-specific characteristics may lead to variations in the spatial patterns they detect.

•This study compares their ability to capture tau distribution and its relationship with memory decline.

Methods

•We studied 647 individuals (367 CU and 282 CI) with available Flortaucipir, and MK6240 and amyloid PET tracers.

•PET topographical spread was assessed using the percentage of abnormal voxels (PAV) above the mean + 2 SD of CU Aβ-negative individuals between 50 and 65 years of age.

•Group differences in PAV were compared across clinical stages, and spatial distributions were visualized on cortical surfaces.

•Binomial GLMs assessed associations between regional tau extent and normalized memory composite score, with marginal predictions derived across the memory range.

Results and Conclusion

•Tau spread increased with clinical severity in line with Braak-stage patterns. CU participants exhibited low tau extent, while dementia participants showed high spread for both tracers. In MCI individuals, MK6240 detected greater tau spread than Flortaucipir, particularly in entorhinal and temporal regions.

•Across all memory levels, MK6240 consistently showed higher PAV, with a steeper association between tau extent and memory decline in mid-to-late Braak regions.

•Both tracers detected measurable tau even at moderate memory impairment, but MK6240’s sensitivity in early symptomatic stages may better capture emerging tau-related neurodegeneration, potentially making it more useful for detecting tau-related neurodegeneration before severe memory impairment.

Comments

Email is required but is not shown publicly.

Sort comments

Loading comments...