Novel non-invasive imaging of amyloid in the retina of the eye as a predictor of amyloid in the brain in Alzheimer's disease

阿尔茨海默病（AD）目前无法治愈，并且通常在早期阶段无法诊断。这种疾病对患者及其家人、照顾者和整个社会都有很大的影响。目前，可能的AD是通过临床评估诊断的，包括认知测试和通过昂贵的脑部扫描检测大脑斑块中的蛋白质淀粉样蛋白。我们已经开发出一种方法，利用光（无染料）检测眼睛视网膜神经细胞层中的淀粉样蛋白，作为其在大脑中存在的标志。基于这种方法的成像设备将比大脑扫描便宜得多，侵入性更小，而且更广泛。一个成功的设备将能够在早期阶段检测出有AD风险的人。然后，患者可以接受早期治疗，以预防或减缓疾病的进展。这种追踪疾病标志物的方法将有助于测试针对AD早期淀粉样蛋白的新疗法，并将降低开发成本。早期和更好的治疗将为患者及其家人带来更好的生活质量，并最终防止AD的破坏性后果。我们的设备测试将检查视网膜中的淀粉样蛋白和大脑中的淀粉样蛋白之间的关系，无论是在活着的眼睛还是死后。我们的目标是通过测量视网膜中的淀粉样蛋白来预测大脑中淀粉样蛋白的负荷，我们将研究那些被诊断为可能的AD、AD病理导致的轻度认知障碍和那些具有AD风险遗传标记的患者。作为比较人群，我们还将对正常老年人和那些患有非AD痴呆症状的人（预期大脑淀粉样蛋白较少）的活体眼睛和大脑进行成像。如果该设备成功预测大脑中淀粉样蛋白的数量，它可能被用来筛选那些有患AD风险的人。

Alzheimers disease (AD) currently cannot be cured and is often not diagnosed in its early stages. The disease has a largeimpact on patients as well as their families, caregivers and society as a whole. Probable AD is currently diagnosed by clinicalevaluation, including cognitive testing and by detecting the protein, amyloid in plaques in the brain via expensive brainscans. We have developed a method that uses light (without dye) to detect the amyloid in the nerve cell layers of the retinaof the eye as a marker of its presence in the brain. An imaging device based on this method will be much less expensive,less invasive and more broadly available than brain scans. A successful device will be able to detect people at risk for AD atan early stage. Then patients could receive early stage treatments to prevent or slow the progression of the disease. Thismethod of tracking a marker of the disease would make it useful for testing new treatments, which target amyloid early inAD, and would reduce the cost of their development. Earlier and better treatments would lead to better quality of life forpatients and their families and ultimately prevent the devastating consequences of AD.Our device testing will examine the relationship between amyloid in the retina and amyloid in the brain both in the living eyeand after death. Our goal will be to predict the load of amyloid in the brain from our measurements of amyloid in the retina.We will study those diagnosed with probable AD, mild cognitive impairment due to AD pathology and those with geneticmarkers at risk for AD. As a comparison population, we will also image the living eyes and brains of normal older people andthose with symptoms of dementia not due to AD (in whom less brain amyloid is expected). If the device successfully predictsthe amount of amyloid in the brain, it may be used to screen those at risk of developing AD.