TDP-43 Cohort and Neuropathology

Hi SEA-AD Team,

I have a general question regarding TDP-43 within the cohort and neuropathology data sets. I have made the following observations that I hope to garner more insight on:

On the cohort metadata file, I observed that

  • 56 of 84 donors are classified as either LATE stage 1, 2 or 3
  • 28 of 84 donors are classified as “not identified” or “unclassifiable.”

However, when observing the neuropathology

  • 15 of 84 donors have some TDP-43 pathology
  • 69 of 84 donors have 0 TDP-43 pathology

I recognize that your team mentioned this in your paper.

“pTDP-43 and α-Syn pathologies were detected in the relatively small number of donors with high stage LATE-NC(76) and neocortical LBD, respectivley”.

Questions 1: Am I correctly interpreting the LATE and LATE-NC definitions? I assume they mean limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy and LATE neuropathological change.

Questions 2: If I am interpreting this correctly, can you assist me in understanding the 69 donors with 0 TDP-43 QNP when 56 donors are classified as LATE?

Thank you so much for your assistance on this SEA-AD Team!