Stress, Weathering, and Blood-Based Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Longitudinal Study of Low Income, Aging African Americans

项目摘要 (From父母补助金AG 077386） 全世界有超过5000万人患有痴呆症，其中阿尔茨海默病（AD）占70% 所有案件中。最近，NIA与阿尔茨海默氏症协会联合提出了一个生物学定义， 基于淀粉样蛋白（A）、磷酸化tau（T）和 神经变性（N）。值得注意的是，AT（N）的基于血液的生物标志物现在可用于观察 研究，并可能很快可用于临床使用。不幸的是，非洲裔美国人很少 包括在AD研究或AT（N）框架的调查中。这一遗漏是至关重要的，因为它们是 至少是白人患AD的可能性的两倍，并且有证据表明病理学的性质（混合性） 与纯AD相比），并且与白人相比，非洲裔美国人的发病途径可能相当不同。 这项拟议的研究将使用家庭和社区健康研究（FACHS），这是一项持续25年的独特研究。 对数百个非裔美国家庭的身体和心理健康进行研究，以调查 各种社会和经济压力、生活方式和遗传因素、老龄化速度以及 慢性疾病影响AT（N）生物标志物的轨迹。少数现存的非裔美国人痴呆症研究使用 收入和教育程度高于一般非裔美国人的样本。相比之下，FACHS 样本中有相当一部分人曾面临经济困难的挑战， 教育水平低，大部分时间都受到歧视。我们来自格鲁吉亚大学的调查小组 马约诊所将开始使用在2011年抽取的冷冻血液样本进行AT（N）生物标志物的测定。 2008年和2019年，以及将于2024年获得的新一轮血液样本。这些数据将使我们能够 使用具有单独变化的时间点（年龄）的生长曲线来估计AT（N）的发育轨迹 生物标志物。接下来，我们将调查各种环境，生活方式和 加速这些AT（N）轨迹的生物/生理因素。我们特别感兴趣的是测试 健康的生物/生理标志物用于介导或缓和生活方式的影响的模型， 环境条件对AT（N）生物标志物变化的影响。最后，目前正在收集Covid-19数据， 并将可用于拟议项目。因此，我们将能够检查 第5波和第8波的AT（N）生物标志物是否会增加感染Covid-19的机会，以及是否有 患有严重疾病的病例在波9处升高AT（N）标记物。

Project Summary (From Parent Grant AG077386) Worldwide, over 50 million people have dementia, with Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounting for as much as 70% of all cases. Recently, the NIA in conjunction with the Alzheimer's Association has proposed a biological definition of AD based on the underlying pathological processes of amyloid (A), phosphorylated tau (T), and neurodegeneration (N). Notably, blood-based biomarkers of AT(N) are now available for use in observational studies and may soon be available for clinical utilization. Unfortunately, African Americans have rarely been included in studies of AD or investigations of the AT(N) framework. This omission is critical given that they are at least twice as likely as whites to develop AD and evidence suggests that the nature of the pathology (mixed versus pure AD) and the pathways to onset may be quite different for African Americans compared to whites. The proposed research will use use the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS), a unique 25-year ongoing study of physical and psychosocial well-being among several hundred African American families, to investigate the extent to which a variety of social and economic stressors, lifestyle and genetic factors, rate of aging, and chronic illness impact trajectories of AT(N) biomarkers. The few extant African American dementia studies use samples with higher income and education than the general African American population. In contrast, the FACHS sample contains a substantial proportion of individuals who have faced the challenges of economic hardship, low education, and discrimination for most of their lives. Our team of investigators from the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic will begin by performing assays of AT(N) biomarkers using frozen blood samples drawn in 2008 and 2019, as well as a new round of blood samples to be obtained in 2024. These data will enable us to use growth curves with individually varying time points (age) to estimate developmental trajectories of AT(N) biomarkers. Next, we will investigate the unique contributions of various environmental, lifestyle, and biological/physiological factors in accelerating these AT(N) trajectories. We are especially interested in testing models where biological/physiological markers of health serve to mediate or moderate the effect of lifestyle and environmental circumstances on changes in AT(N) biomarkers. Finally, Covid-19 data is currently being collected from the study sample and will be available for use in the proposed project. Thus, we will be able to examine whether AT(N) biomarkers at waves 5 and 8 increase the chances of contracting Covid-19, as well as if having suffered a severe case of the illness elevates AT(N) markers at wave 9.