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News Generation, Inc.

~ Researchers Look to Identify Subtle Changes in the Brain Years Before Overt Alzheimer's Disease Symptoms Appear ~

June 2011

(WASHINGTON, DC, Wednesday, June 8, 2011) Over 5.3 million people across the U.S. are suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and every 70 seconds, another person develops this devastating disease. For the first time in nearly three decades, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Alzheimer's Association released new clinical diagnostic criteria and research guidelines that account for the earlier stages of the disease and cover the full spectrum of the disease as it gradually changes over many years. These updated guidelines reflect a deeper understanding of the disorder and take into account the importance of the use of imaging and biomarkers in blood and spinal fluid to help identify changes in the brain before overt AD symptoms occur.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) is a public-private partnership that began in October 2004 as a landmark study to find more sensitive and accurate methods to detect Alzheimer's disease at earlier stages and mark its progress through biomarkers. Researchers have recently entered into a new phase of this groundbreaking trial - ADNI 2. ADNI 2 is building upon the successes of this ongoing effort to identify the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease, when damage to the brain may begin well before symptoms appear and will help provide new insights into the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

ADNI is the largest public-private partnership to date in Alzheimer's disease research, stimulating the development of a worldwide collaboration among academia, government and industry researchers that has resulted in over 170 published papers and new findings about how changes in the structure of the brain as well as biomarker and imaging measures that predict risk for cognitive decline and conversion to dementia in this clinical cohort.

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