In asymptomatic autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease carriers, striatal amyloid-beta deposition is more pronounced than cortical deposition in some individuals and is correlated with the presence of tau pathology, indicating that striatal amyloid may serve as an early biomarker of disease progression.

In people with a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, a sticky protein called amyloid-beta builds up first in a deep brain region called the striatum. This buildup triggers another toxic protein, tau, to clump together and spread to other areas. As tau spreads, it disrupts how brain regions communicate, causing some areas to become overactive temporarily before they eventually lose connection. This pattern starts in the striatum and predicts when symptoms will appear.