With an increasingly older population, Alzheimer’s disease is taking a devastating toll on individuals, their families and society as a whole. If more successful treatments are not developed, the Alzheimer’s Association predicts a large effect on the American economy. Fortunately, exciting research is emerging in the battle against Alzheimer’s and related brain disorders.

 

Researchers are recognizing that, like many cancers, early detection is key to the development of early interventions for preventing and slowing Alzheimer’s. The newest studies have found that abnormal amyloid proteins, which put people at risk for Alzheimer’s, may be deposited 15 to 20 years before the onset of clinical symptoms. In certain patients there is a “cascade” involving increasing abnormal beta amyloid, abnormal deposition of brain tau proteins and microglial activation that causes brain cells to die.

 

The problem is that to study abnormal aging it is essential to distinguish early brain disease from age-related processes that occur in normal brains. The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has been at the forefront of differentiating between normal and abnormal cognitive aging. The Miller School was recently awarded a five-year $2.3 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health and an additional $500,000 grant from the state of Florida. Researchers will investigate novel cognitive measures that are expected to identify the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease in its pre-clinical stages and to differentiate these changes from those of normal aging.

 

Individuals between the ages of 63 and 95 with normal cognition and those with slight cognitive concerns or history of Alzheimer’s disease will be followed annually over five years and receive novel cognitive tests, MRIs of the brain and genetic measures, as well as other brain biomarkers. By following a large cohort of healthy older adults – those with and without a family history of Alzheimer’s disease and those with subjective memory complaints – invaluable information will be gathered to assist in early intervention and treatment.

 

Detecting early stage Alzheimer’s is also becoming a target for pharmacological trials. In another Miller School of Medicine study, which is still in the planning stages, at-risk subjects may be able to receive an active immunotherapy that will cause the body to build up an immune response to attack abnormal beta amyloid accumulation in the brain. UM will also study a BACE (beta-secretase 1) inhibitor designed to inhibit the production of abnormal amyloid protein. In addition, Miller researchers are already conducting drug trials for those affected by mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

 

As our research continues to focus on early identification and prevention of Alzheimer’s, we hope that Alzheimer’s markers and new therapies will be identified. With early care, we will improve patient outcomes and, someday, cure this horrible disease.