ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH PROJECT: Understanding immune/inflammatory and vascular mechanisms in brain aging and Alzheimer's disease

National Institute On Aging

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The goal of this project is to use data from existing cohort studies to determine how immune and vascular risk factors affect brain structure and function in older adults. Specifically, we are examining how exposure to chronic systemic inflammation, acute inflammatory insults, and vascular risk factors affects the trajectory of brain structure, brain function, and progression of Alzheimers disease. We are using available data from several large cohort studies, including the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, and the Womens Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS). Using data from the BLSA, a longitudinal cohort study started in 1958, we are examining how past exposures relate to longitudinal changes in brain structure and cognition spanning multiple decades. For example, we recently demonstrated a relationship between chronic symptomatic infection with human herpesvirus and longitudinal changes in brain structure and function using longitudinal neuroimaging and cognitive data from BLSA. Currently, we are also using BLSA, ARIC, and UK Biobank data to examine the immune proteins in circulation that are differentially expressed following infection and associated with neurodegeneration and dementia risk. Regarding vascular risk factors, much of our work continues to examine how subclinical measures of vascular risk factors defined using proteomic risk scores relates to ADRD biomarkers and the clinical progression of disease. In the coming years, we will continue to characterize immune and vascular risk factors in these cohorts to determine whether these exposures are risk factors for Alzheimers disease, dementia, and dementia endophenotypes defined on neuroimaging.