Hub overload and failure as a final common pathway in neurological brain network disorders

Abstract

Understanding the concept of network hubs and their role in brain disease is now rapidly becoming important for clinical neurology. Hub nodes in brain networks are areas highly connected to the rest of the brain, which handle a large part of all the network traffic. They also show high levels of neural activity and metabolism, which makes them vulnerable to many different types of pathology. The present review examines recent evidence for the prevalence and nature of hub involvement in a variety of neurological disorders, emphasizing common themes across different types of pathology. In focal epilepsy pathological hubs may play a role in spreading of seizure activity, and removal of such hub nodes is associated with improved outcome. In stroke damage to hubs is associated with impaired cognitive recovery. Breakdown of optimal brain network organization in multiple sclerosis is accompanied by cognitive dysfunction. In Alzheimer’s disease hyperactive hub nodes are directly associated with amyloid beta and tau pathology. Early and reliable detection of hub pathology and disturbed connectivity in Alzheimer’s disease with imaging and neurophysiological techniques opens up opportunities to detect patients with a network hyperexcitability profile, who could benefit from treatment with anti-epileptic drugs.