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Author Spotlight: Advancing Alzheimer's Research – Exploring Early Detection and Multi-Omics Approaches
Published on: December 15, 2023
The ALFA project: A research platform to identify early pathophysiological features of Alzheimer's disease
José Luis Molinuevo1, Nina Gramunt1, Juan Domingo Gispert1
1Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, Barcelona, Spain.
Insights
The ALFA project established a large cohort enriched with Alzheimer's disease (AD) genetic risk factors. This infrastructure will aid in developing AD prevention strategies and understanding preclinical disease stages.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genetics
- Public Health
Background:
- The preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD) offers a critical window for early detection and prevention strategies.
- The ALFA project aims to identify early pathophysiological events in AD through its registry, parent cohort, and nested ALFA+ cohort study.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a valuable research infrastructure for Alzheimer's disease (AD) research.
- To leverage the ALFA registry, parent cohort, and ALFA+ cohort for AD prevention and understanding preclinical disease stages.
Main Methods:
- The ALFA parent cohort involved cognitive evaluations, lifestyle questionnaires, DNA extraction, and MRI.
- The ALFA+ cohort incorporates advanced wet and imaging biomarkers for comprehensive phenotyping.
Main Results:
- The ALFA parent cohort includes 2743 participants aged 45-74 years.
- This cohort, primarily comprising cognitively normal offspring of AD patients, shows enrichment for AD genetic risk factors.
Conclusions:
- The ALFA project provides a robust infrastructure for diverse studies and clinical trials focused on AD prevention.
- The longitudinal ALFA+ cohort is essential for elucidating the natural history of AD and modeling preclinical stages to inform successful therapeutic trials.
Introduction:
The preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is optimal for identifying early pathophysiological events and developing prevention programs, which are shared aims of the ALFA project, including the ALFA registry and parent cohort and the nested ALFA+ cohort study.
Methods:
The ALFA parent cohort baseline visit included full cognitive evaluation, lifestyle habits questionnaires, DNA extraction, and MRI. The nested ALFA+ study adds wet and imaging biomarkers for deeper phenotyping.
Results:
A total of 2743 participants aged 45 to 74 years were included in the ALFA parent cohort. We show that this cohort, mostly composed of cognitively normal offspring of AD patients, is enriched for AD genetic risk factors.
Discussion:
The ALFA project represents a valuable infrastructure that will leverage with different studies and trials to prevent AD. The longitudinal ALFA+ cohort will serve to untangle the natural history of the disease and to model the preclinical stages to develop successful trials.
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