UK Dementias Platform

英国痴呆症平台(UKDP)是一种全新的痴呆症研究方法，它汇集了来自22个队列的约200万名研究参与者的数据，试图发现痴呆症的原因，并找到减缓痴呆症的方法。该平台已获得450万GB的资助，并邀请申请进一步的750万GB。为了实现我们发现痴呆症病因并找到减缓痴呆症的方法的目标，我们将分析数十年来从英国各地收集的数据，以确定药物研究的目标。我们还将充实经过战略选择的队列，为痴呆症研究提供一般资源。这将包括找出早期痴呆症过程是如何开始的，我们的基因如何影响我们患痴呆症的风险，以及我们的身体在自我维持和修复方面哪里出了问题。做这项工作涉及许多实际挑战，包括知道如何在大型研究中评估痴呆症，在这些研究中，让每个人都接受医生检查的费用高得令人望而却步。另一个挑战是如何衡量人群中的认知衰退，因为当人们开始衰退时，他们做认知测试的动力通常会降低。围绕这项工作，还有重要的伦理问题，我们有具体的项目，关注与参与详细测量研究和考虑脑捐赠相关的伦理、法律和社会问题。为了尽快产生影响，我们将与最有能力将基本科学知识转化为有效疗法的行业合作伙伴密切合作。即使我们不能在短期内治愈痴呆症，如果我们找到方法减缓痴呆症的速度，这样随着年龄的增长，没有人需要失去他们的尊严，这也算成功。

The UK Dementias Platform (UKDP) is a radically new approach to dementias research, bringing together data from around 2,000,000 study participants from 22 cohorts to try and discover the causes of dementia and to find out ways of slowing it down. The platform has been funded to the level of £4.5M and invited to apply for a further £7.5M. To achieve our goals of discovering the causes of dementia and finding out ways to slow it down, we will analyse data collected over many decades from throughout the UK to identify targets for drugs studies. We will also enrich strategically selected cohorts to provide resources for dementias research in general. This will involve finding out how the early dementia processes begin, how our genes affect our risk of dementia and where our body goes wrong in maintaining and repairing itself. There are many practical challenges involved in doing this work including knowing how to assess dementia in large studies where having everyone examined by a doctor would be prohibitively expensive. Another challenge is how to measure cognitive decline in the population as when people begin to decline they are frequently less motivated to do cognitive tests.There are also important ethical issues surrounding this work and we have specific projects looking at ethical legal and social issues surrounding taking part in detailed measurement studies as well as in considering brain donation.To help make an impact as soon as possible, we will work closely with industry partners who are best placed to turn basic scientific knowledge into effective therapies.Even if we cannot cure dementia in the short term, it would count as a success if we found ways of slowing it down so that nobody need lose their dignity as they grew older.