2024 Alzheimer's Association Research Grant to Promote Diversity (AARG-D)
Blood pTau validation of Alzheimer disease in high-risk populations
Are blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s reliable across diverse populations?
Song-Yi Park, Ph.D.
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI - United States
Background
According to studies mentioned in the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, older non-Hispanic Black Americans are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s and other dementias as older non-Hispanic White Americans. Despite this health disparity, most of the research on identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer’s detection has been in predominantly White Americans.
One of the hallmark brain changes in Alzheimer’s is the accumulation of tau protein to form tau tangles. Studies have shown that a specific form of tau, called pTau-217, can be reliably detected in the blood, allowing for a low-cost, non-invasive biomarker to screen for Alzheimer’s. However, it is unknown if pTau-217 can be used to detect Alzheimer’s in older adults with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds.
Research Plan
For their project, Dr. Song-Yi Park and colleagues will test whether pTau-217 is a reliable blood-based biomarker to detect brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s in a large, diverse group of older adults. They will do this by leveraging clinical and demographic data from participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. The team will first measure pTau-217 levels from Black/African American, Native Hawaiian, and White American participants, including those with and without Alzheimer’s. The researchers will then examine the relationship between the amount of circulating pTau-217 with cognitive impairment, genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s, and social determinants of health including income, education, sex, and race/ethnicity.
Impact
The results of this project may confirm the utility of a widely used Alzheimer’s biomarker in a diverse population. It could also support the use of a low-cost, non-invasive method for Alzheimer’s screening in high-risk older adults.