Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Adults with Down syndrome (DS) have a high risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the sequence of plasma biomarker and cognitive changes in AD in DS is well studied, their related trajectories are not fully characterized. Data-driven methods can estimate disease progression from cross-sectional data. METHODS: In 57 adults with DS and no AD, we used the event-based model to sequence plasma biomarker and cognitive changes in preclinical AD. Generalized additive models assessed the relationship between age and plasma biomarkers. RESULTS: The earliest changes occurred in the amyloid beta 42/40 ratio, followed by memory changes. Later alterations in neurofilament light and tau concentrations preceded executive and visuomotor function changes, with glial fibrillary acidic protein levels changing last. The highest rate of plasma biomarker changes occurred between ages 39 and 52. CONCLUSION: Changes in DS follow a pattern similar to that of sporadic and familial AD. Event-based modeling offers individual-level staging, potentially optimizing diagnosis and clinical trial patient selection. HIGHLIGHTS: The pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) development in Down syndrome (DS) are not well defined, despite the extremely high prevalence of AD. Better understanding of early AD progression would aid in diagnostics and treatment. Data-driven methods, such as the event-based model, can aid in clarifying the sequence of cognitive and plasma biomarker changes in the early stages of AD while accounting for baseline variability. We find that plasma amyloid beta 42/40 ratio and memory changes precede changes in plasma biomarker levels of neurodegeneration, with changes in executive and visuomotor functions occurring later, before neuroinflammatory marker changes. Combining plasma biomarkers could be a useful measure of preclinical AD for trials, particularly in individuals between 39 and52 years of age.