Catalyst Awardee

Project Description

Development of a Risk-estimation System for Alzheimer’s Disease Using Blood-based Biomarkers

Akinori Nakamura, Ph.D., M.D. | National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology; Naoki Kaneko, Ph.D., M.D. | Shimadzu Corporation; Kenji Ishii, Ph.D., M.D. | Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology; Kazunari Ishii, Ph.D., M.D. | Kindai University; Kengo Ito, Ph.D., M.D. | National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology; Takashi Kato, Ph.D., M.D. | National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology; Yutaka Arahata, Ph.D., M.D. | National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
Competition Sponsor: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
Awardee Year: 2020

It is known that brain amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition starts decades before the onset of dementia symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and about 20-30% of cognitively intact elders have Aβ pathology. Therefore, reliable stratification of such individuals “at risk for AD” is essentially important to develop effective drug/non-drug interventions for AD. However, as currently available methods, Aβ-PET and CSF testing, are costly and/or invasive, blood-based tests are strongly desired. Recently, we have developed a high-performance plasma Aβ biomarker that detect abnormal Aβ deposition, using the immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry assay. Further investigations suggested that this biomarker can detect very earlier stages of Aβ pathology in cognitively intact elders, and it may reflect the speed of Aβ deposition. Thus, the aim of this study is to establish a risk-estimation system for AD using the plasma Aβ biomarker. Outcomes of this study are expected to contribute to researches and health care for dementia as follows: 1) It facilitates clinical trials for AD by screening target individuals efficiently. 2) It gives useful information to estimate risks for dementia at memory clinics. 3) It accelerates large-scale prospective researches to establish efficacious prevention strategies for dementia.

To learn more about this proposal email healthylongevity@nas.edu.

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