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Cerebral β amyloid deposition in patients with malignant neoplasms: its prevalence with aging and effects of radiation therapy on vascular amyloid

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Abstract

We examined immunohistochemically 123 autopsy brains from patients aged between 30 to 59, who died as a result of malignant neoplasms. Using antiserum to amyloid β protein (Aβ), we found that cerebral Aβ deposits began in the subjects' fifth decade; its prevalence was 0%, 9.8% and 21.5% in the fourth, fifth and sixth decades, respectively. The major form of Aβ deposition was diffuse-type plaques, although one third of the brains with Aβ deposition showed amyloid angiopathy. Subpial Aβ deposition is frequently associated with amyloid angiopathy. The prevalence of cerebral Aβ deposits was about two times higher in the patients who had received brain radiation therapy (27.8%) compared to non-radiated patients (14.8%). Amyloid angiopathy was much more prominent (P<0.05) with radiation therapy (22.2%) than without (8.0%). We found that cerebral Aβ deposition is dependent on aging, even in patients with malignant tumors and at beginning in their forties, and that brain radiation therapy is a possible risk factor of Aβ deposition, especially in the form of amyloid angiopathy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Gunma Cancer Center, 617-1 Takabayashi-nishi-cho, Ota, Gunma, 373, Japan

    Shiro Sugihara & Akira Ogawa

  2. Department of Pathology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Japan

    Yoichi Nakazato

  3. College of Medical Care and Technology, Gunma University, Japan

    Haruyasu Yamaguchi

Authors
  1. Shiro Sugihara
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  2. Akira Ogawa
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  3. Yoichi Nakazato
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  4. Haruyasu Yamaguchi
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Sugihara, S., Ogawa, A., Nakazato, Y. et al. Cerebral β amyloid deposition in patients with malignant neoplasms: its prevalence with aging and effects of radiation therapy on vascular amyloid. Acta Neuropathol 90, 135–141 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294312

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00294312

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