Projects

To enhance screening of Alzheimer's patients, we propose interrogating blood-based markers examined in Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) and healthy agematched controls. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), one of the biomarkers tested in ELSA, has been previously shown to play a neuroprotective role in animal models of brain injury. We hypothesize that higher blood levels of IGF-1 are predictive of slower cognitive decline in LOAD subjects. In Aim 1, we will test the primary hypothesis that plasma IGF-1 is significantly lower in LOAD subjects compared to cognitively normal controls. In Aim 2, we will characterize an optimal cut-off of IGF-1 for predicting LOAD progressors in the ELSA cohort. In Aim 3, we will apply these methods in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort, and attempt to recapitulate these results using the Biomarkers Consortium Plasma Proteomics data that measured IGF-1 levels in ADNI subje

Gender & Sex Based Differences

This is a TESTING project