Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: a Systematic Review
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REVIEW Print ISSN 1738-6586 / On-line ISSN 2005-5013 J Clin Neurol 2011;7:1-9 10.3988/jcn.2011.7.1.1 Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: A Systematic Review Alessandro Biffi,a,b,c Steven M. Greenbergb,c aCenter for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA bDepartment of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA cProgram in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA Received September 2, 2010 Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a disorder characterized by amyloid deposition in the walls Revised September 17, 2010 of leptomeningeal and cortical arteries, arterioles, and less often capillaries and veins of the cen- Accepted September 17, 2010 tral nervous system. CAA occurs mostly as a sporadic condition in the elderly, its incidence asso- Correspondence ciating with advancing age. All sporadic CAA cases are due to deposition of amyloid-β, originat- Alessandro Biffi, MD ing from proteolytic cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor Protein. Hereditary forms of CAA are Hemorrhagic Stroke Research generally familial (and therefore rare in the general population), more severe and earlier in onset. Group and Center for Human CAA-related lobar intracerebral hemorrhage is the most well-studied clinical condition associated Genetics Research, with brain amyloid deposition. Despite ever increasing understanding of CAA pathogenesis and Department of Neurology, availability of reliable clinical and diagnostic tools, preventive and therapeutic options remain very Massachusetts General Hospital, limited. Further research efforts are required in order to identify biological targets for novel CAA 185 Cambridge Street, treatment strategies. We present a systematic review of existing evidence regarding the epidemi- CPZN 6818, Boston, ology, genetics, pathogenesis, diagnosis and clinical management of CAA. MA 02114, USA J Clin Neurol 2011;7:1-9 Tel +1-617-643-3304 Fax +1-617-643-3293 Key Wordszzcerebral amyloid angiopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, dementia. E-mail [email protected] Introduction of CAA, provide an overview of diagnostic tools available to clinical neurologists, as well as summarize current guidelines The term cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) describes an het- and recommendation for prevention and treatment of CAA-in- erogeneous group of biochemically and genetically diverse tracerebral hemorrhage (ICH)(See Appendix for literature central nervous system (CNS) disorders. All these medical con- Search criteria). ditions share a characteristic morphological finding on patho- logical examination, i.e. amyloid fibrils deposited in the walls Historical Perspective of small to medium-sized, blood vessels mostly arterial. In some instances amyloid deposits have been also observed in the cap- Vascular β-amyloid deposition in the central nervous system illaries of CNS parenchyma and of the leptomeninges. CAA was first described by Gustav Oppenheim in 1909. Oppenheim mostly occurs in the sporadic form in the elderly, while rare fa- found foci of necrosis in the brain parenchyma adjacent to hy- milial forms occur in younger patients and are generally lead to alinized capillary walls in 6 of 14 brains of autopsied individ- more severe clinical manifestations. While more than 25 hu- uals with senile dementia and the pathological changes of AD.4 man proteins or have been found to form amyloid fibrils in In 1938, Scholz published the first article focusing solely on vivo, only 7 have been described in CNS disorders,1,2 and all cerebral vascular abnormalities now recognized as CAA.5 The sporadic forms and most hereditary forms of CAA affecting the observation that CAA is limited to the vascular media without human brain are of the Aβ type (Aβ-CAA)(Table 1). In Aβ-CAA adjacent parenchymal involvement was made in 1954 by Ste- the action of β- and γ-secretases on the amyloid precursor pro- fanos Pantelakis.6 He also described many of the hallmark tein (APP) lead to deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, mirror- pathological features of CAA: 1) preferential involvement of the ing some aspect of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patophysiology.3 small arteries and capillaries of the meninges, cerebral cortex, In this review we will present a summary of existing evi- and cerebellar cortex; 2) topographical distribution favoring the dence regarding the epidemiology, genetics and pathogenesis posterior brain regions; 3) lack of staining of vessels in the white Copyright © 2011 Korean Neurological Association 1 Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: A Systematic Review Table 1. Sporadic and familial (hereditary) CAA forms Amyloid Precursor Chromo- Hemorrhagic Disease Notes peptide protein some stroke Aβ APP - Sporadic CAA + Aβ APP - CAA related to sporadic AD No increase in lobar ICH risk - Aβ APP 21 CAA related to familial AD Associated to presenilin-1 and presenilin-2 mutations - Aβ APP 21 CAA in Down syndrome Lobar ICH is rarely observed - Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Described in 2 large families from the Netherlands + Hemorrhage with Amyloidosis: Age at onset: 50 years Dutch type Lobar hemorrhages, focal neurological deficits, dementia, and leukoencephalopathy Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Hemorrhage Described in 3 Italian families + with Amyloidosis: Italian type Age at onset: 50 years Lobar hemorrhages and dementia Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Described in a dutch family (discovered in Belgium, +/- Hemorrhage with Amyloidosis: therefore called “Flemish”) and a British family Flemish type Age at onset: 45 years Progressive AD-like dementia, in some patients associated with a lobar hemorrhage Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Described in a Iowa family and a Spanish family +/- Hemorrhage with Amyloidosis: Age at onset: 50-66 years Iowa type Memory impairment, expressive language dysfunction, personality changes, myoclonic jerks, short-stepped gait, no clinically manifest ICH (family from Iowa) or lobar hemorrhages (family from Spain) Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Hemorrhage Described in one family from Piedmont (Italy) + with Amyloidosis: Piedmont type Age at onset: 50-70 years Recurrent lobar hemorrhages, cognitive decline Aβ APP 21 Hereditary Cerebral Hemorrhage Described in one family from northern Sweden - with Amyloidosis: Age at onset: -60 years Arctic (Icelandic) type Progressive cognitive decline (no strokes) ACys Cystatin C 20 Hereditary Cerebral Hemorrhage Described in 9 sub-families in Iceland + with Amyloidosis: Icelandic type (one sporadic case in the US) Causes systemic amyloidosis Age at onset: 20-30 years Recurrent lobar hemorrhages ATTR Transthyretin 18 Meningovascular amyloidosis Polyneuropathy is the main clinical symptom In some Rarer findings: ataxia, spasticity and dementia families (rare) Systemic amyloidosis AGel Gelsolin 9 Familial Amyloidosis- Progressive corneal lattice dystrophy, cranial and - Finnish Type peripheral neuropathy, cutaneous amyloidosis Systemic amyloidosis PrPSc Prion 20 Gerstmann-Sträussler- Described in one family - Protein Scheinker syndrome Progressive cognitive decline ABri ABri 13 Familial British Dementia Described in 4 families - precursor Age at onset: 45-50 years protein Progressive dementia, cerebellar ataxia, spastic tetraparesis ADan ADan 13 Familial Danish Dementia Described in 1 family from Denmark - precursor Age at onset: 30 years protein Cataracts, deafness, progressive ataxia, dementia (previously known as “heredopatia ophtalmo-oto-encephalica”) AD: Alzheimer’s disease, CAA: cerebral amyloid angiopathy, ICH: intracerebral hemorrhage. 2 J Clin Neurol 2011;7:1-9 Biffi A and Greenberg SM matter; 4) association with increased age and dementia; 5) in the elderly attributable to CAA range from 10% to 20% in lack of association with hypertension and arteriosclerosis; 6) autopsy series to 34% in clinical series.12,15 lack of association with amyloidosis of the other organs. Over the following 20 years multiple case reports and small series Pathogenesis suggested an association between CAA and lobar ICH. Okaza- The 40-amino-acid-long Aβ (Aβ 1-40) is more soluble than ki and colleagues published a seminal article in 1979, clarify- the longer Aβ 1-42 and the two molecules differ in the distribu- ing the relationship between CAA and lobar ICH.7 They iden- tion in brain and vessel walls. Aβ 1-40 tends to be the major tified 23 consecutive cases of moderate to severe CAA from au- form in the amyloid in artery walls in CAA, whereas Aβ1-42 is topsies at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN). A history of lobar, mul- more prominent in the plaques in brain tissue.16,17 It is generally tiple hemorrhages was very common in these patients. Fibrinoid accepted that conformational transitions occurring in native sol- degeneration of the vessel walls with microaneurysm forma- uble amyloid molecules increase their content in β-sheet struc- tion was sometimes seen, as well as a double-barreled vessel tures, thus favoring the formation and deposition of more insol- wall appearance caused by cracking of the arterial media. Based uble oligomeric structures. In turn, these deposits trigger a se- on these findings, the authors concluded that CAA was an un- condary cascade of events including, among others, release of der-recognized cause of lobar ICH in the elderly, thus provid- inflammatory components, activation of the complement sys- ing the foundation for further exploration of CAA and CAA- tem, oxidative stress, alteration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) related lobar ICH (CAA-ICH). permeability, and cell toxicity.18,19 While both deposited and soluble Aβ molecules are identi- Sporadic