New Alzheimer’s treatments do not alter amyloid plaque detection by brain imaging

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the progressive accumulation of abnormal protein deposits, called amyloid plaques, in the brain. These aggregates play a central role in the development of the disease and are targeted by recent treatments such as lecanemab and donanemab. These drugs, designed to reduce the amount of amyloid plaques, raise an important question: could they distort the results of imaging tests used to monitor the progression of the disease?

A recent study explored this possibility by analyzing whether these treatments interfere with florbetaben, a tracer used in positron emission tomography imaging. This tracer allows visualization and quantification of amyloid plaques in the brain, providing a direct way to measure the effectiveness of therapies. The researchers used three complementary approaches to verify whether lecanemab or donanemab prevent florbetaben from binding to amyloid plaques.

The results show that neither lecanemab nor donanemab affects florbetaben’s ability to bind to amyloid deposits. Laboratory experiments confirmed that the tracer and therapeutic antibodies bind to distinct areas of the plaques. This means that doctors can continue to use brain imaging to assess the effectiveness of treatments without fear that the drugs will mask the results.

This discovery is reassuring for patients and clinicians. It confirms that the observed reductions in amyloid plaques in treated individuals truly reflect the action of the drugs and not an imaging artifact. Current Alzheimer’s treatments can therefore be monitored accurately, which is essential for tailoring patient care and improving outcomes.

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Study Citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-026-02001-y

Title: In-vitro interaction studies between the amyloid PET tracer florbetaben and the amyloid-beta targeting antibodies lecanemab and donanemab on AD brain samples reveal no interferences

Journal: Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Authors: Andre Mueller; Aleksandar Jovalekic; Marianne Chapleau; Julius Seidel; Maria Ritter; Eva-Maria Bickel; Nadine Kiessling; Emer MacSweeney; Andrew W. Stephens; Norman Koglin