Traumatic Brain Injury and Alzheimers Disease

Abstract

The overall long-term goal of this proposal is to understand the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD). The rationale for this project is the pressing need for technologies that have been validated in different healthcare settings to identify individuals with TBI who are at high risk for AD/ADRD-associated cognitive decline, which is of utmost importance for early diagnosis and intervention. Currently no treatments effectively slow the progression of TBI-associated AD or other related causes of cognitive decline, but billions of dollars are being invested to develop effective treatments. Development of inexpensive, scalable methods to identify individuals with TBI at risk for AD/ADRD-associated cognitive decline has the potential to greatly accelerate the development of new treatments. The overall significance of this project is that it will lead to validated genomic instruments for capturing Alzheimer’s and vascular risk in TBI clinical studies, including clinical trials, and ultimately in many different healthcare settings. Using two different previously validated genetic scores, we will identify people with TBI at elevated risk for Alzheimer’s dementia. By targeting two different pathways, our work will elucidate the mechanistic relationship between TBI, AD, and vascular disease and inform development of therapies aimed at slowing down TBI-associated cognitive decline.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Nov 19, 2019
Source ID
W81XWH1910709

Entities

People

  • Jennifer Yokoyama

Organizations

  • United States Army
  • University of California, San Francisco

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Oncology
  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cognitive Aging in the Guam and Border Populations Affected by Alzheimer's Disease and Tau-Associated Dementias.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology