Alzheimer's PET Imaging in Racially/Ethnically Diverse Adults

Alzheimer Disease Clinical Trial

Official title: Alzheimer's PET Imaging in Racially/Ethnically Diverse Adults

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The study employs tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in a well-characterized multi-racial/ethnic cohort to examine the extent to which tau pathology is associated with cognition, differences in tau pathology across racial/ethnic groups, and the relationship between MRI markers of small-vessel cerebrovascular disease and tau pathology. The study also investigates amyloid-dependent tau spreading.

Clinical Trial Description

Deposition of hyperphosphorylated tau protein is observed in several neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's Disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Tau is a microtubular protein and its native function is to provide structural support to neurons. Paired helical filaments composed of dysfunctional tau protein are found in several neurodegenerative diseases. In AD, the clinical progression of dementia has been shown to correlate with the amount and topographical spread of tau throughout the brain. Therefore, detecting and quantifying tau aggregate load in brain would have diagnostic and prognostic potential in clinical management of several neurological diseases. As disease modifying drugs that target tau are being developed, there is a critical need for a reliable method of detecting tau aggregates to confirm pathology in patients entering clinical trials. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Alzheimer Disease

• NCT number: NCT03706261
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Columbia University
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Start date: March 22, 2019
• Completion date: July 14, 2023