Your eyes may reveal your risk for Alzheimer’s disease

Protein deposits in the retina and brain appear to parallel possible neurodegeneration, an idea that could lead to easier and faster detection.

Amyloid plaques are protein deposits that build up between brain cells, hampering function and eventually leading to neuronal death. They are considered a mark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the subject of several surveys designed to reduce or prevent their formation, including the A4 study nationwide.

But amyloid deposits can also occur in the retina of the eye, often in patients clinically diagnosed with AD, suggesting similar pathologies in both organs. In a small cross-sectional study, a team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, compared retinal and brain amyloid tests in patients in Study A4 and D ‘Another study (Longitudinal Amyloid Risk Assessment and Neurodegeneration) assessing the risk of neurodegeneration in people with low levels of amyloid.

Like the proverbial “windows to the soul,” researchers observed that the presence of retinal spots in the eyes correlated with brain scans showing higher levels of cerebral amyloid. The finding suggests that non-invasive retinal imaging may be useful as a biomarker for detecting the risk of early stage AD.

The results were published in the August 17, 2021 issue of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“This was a small initial data set from the screening visit. It involved eight patients, ”said senior author Robert Rissman, PhD, professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Biomarker Core for the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study and Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research. Center at UC San Diego. “But these results are encouraging because they suggest that it may be possible to determine the onset, spread and morphology of AD – a preclinical diagnosis – using retinal imaging, rather than more difficult and expensive brain scans. . We look forward to seeing the results of additional retinal scans and the impact of solanezumab (a monoclonal antibody) on retinal imaging. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to see and analyze this data when the A4 trial is finished.

The next step, said Rissman, will be to conduct a larger study to document and further determine the relationship between retinal amyloid and cerebral amyloid, both transversely and over time.

Reference: “Feasibility study for the detection of retinal amyloid in clinical trials: anti-amyloid treatment trial in asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (A4)” by Jennifer Ngolab, Michael Donohue, Alison Belsha, Jennifer Salazar, Paula Cohen, Sandhya Jaiswal, Veasna Tan, Devon Gessert, Shaina Korouri, Neelum T. Aggarwal, Jessica Alber, Ken Johnson, Gregory Jicha, Christopher van Dyck, James Lah, Stephen Salloway, Reisa A. Sperling, Paul S. Aisen, Michael S. Rafii and Robert A. Rissman, August 17, 2021, Alzheimer’s and dementia.
DOI: 10.1002 / papa2.12199

Co-authors include: Jennifer Ngolab and Shaina Korouri, UC San Diego; Michael Donohue, Alison Belsha, Jennifer Salazar, Paula Cohen, Sandhya Jaiswal, Veasna Tan, Devon Gessert, Paul S. Aisen, and Michael S. Rafii, all at the University of Southern California; Neelum T. Aggarwal, Rush University Medical Center; Jessica Alber, University of Rhode Island; Ken Johnson, NeuroVision Imaging Inc; Gregory Jicha, University of Kentucky; Christophe van Dyck, Yale University; James Lah, Emory University; Stephen Salloway, Butler Hospital, RI; Reisa A. Sperling, Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging (grants AG062429, AG018440, AG010483, AG063689), Alzheimer’s Association, Eli Lilly and Company, NeuroVision Inc., Accelerating Medicines Partnership, GHR Foundation, Morton Plant Mease Foundation, plus an anonymous foundation and other private donors.