Extended Data Fig. 4: Associations between CSF biomarkers and tau-PET in different Braak regions.

Associations between CSF biomarkers and tau-PET in Braak I (A), Braak III–IV (B) and Braak V–VI (C) regions. First two columns show scatter-plots of MTBR-tau243 (first column) and pT217/T217 (second column) and tau-PET in BioFINDER-2 participants (n = 443), colored by diagnosis and amyloid status. Linear regression models, adjusting for age and sex, were used to obtain standardized β, p-values (asterisks) and R² shown in the plots. Third and fourth columns show standardized β of the association between each CSF biomarker and tau-PET in BioFINDER-2 and Knight ADRC participants (n = 219; except for pT231/T231 in which n = 184), respectively. Solid and dashed lines show standardized β (central dot) and 95%CI when all participants or only amyloid positive participants (BioFINDER-2: n = 287; Knight ADRC, n = 136) were included, respectively. Asterisks (crosses) show the highest or not significantly different standardized β in all (amyloid positive only) participants, in each cohort and outcome. Amyloid-positive participants were selected based on CSF Aβ42/40 previously validated cutoffs (CSF Aβ42/40 < 0.08 in BioFINDER-2 and CSF Aβ42/40 < 0.0673 in Knight ADRC). Association p-values were based on two-sided tests and bootstrapping p-values from one-sided tests, all unadjusted for multiple comparisons. All p-values from associations between CSF biomarkers and tau-PET shown in the scatter-plots were <0.001. *, p < 0.050; **, p < 0.010; ***, p < 0.001. Abbreviations: Aβ + , amyloid positive; AD + , Alzheimer’s disease dementia amyloid positive; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; CU-, cognitively unimpaired amyloid negative; CU + , cognitively unimpaired amyloid positive; MCI + , mild cognitive impairment amyloid positive; MTBR, microtubule binding region; non-AD, non-Alzheimer’s disease dementia; PET, positron emission tomography; SUVR, standardized uptake value ratio.