Predictors of functional and structural neuroimaging in conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia of Alzheimer's Disease according to AT(N) classification

• Grant number: 17/13906-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal researcher: Marcio Luiz Figueredo Balthazar
• Grantee: Thamires Naela Cardoso Magalhães
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07559-3 - BRAINN - The Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, AP.CEPID
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/13003-4 - Molecular and neuroimaging biomarkers in the differentiation of patients who convert to Alzheimer's disease, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and currently there are more than 60 million people diagnosed with AD in the world. This disease affects the cognition, behavior and independence of the individual, generating major impacts on society and becoming a public health problem. Some of the major pathological features of AD can be evaluated through biomarkers, such as beta-amyloid (²A) and Tau proteins, neurodegeneration markers can also be evaluated, such as hippocampal atrophy and phosphorylated Tau protein. Currently, to aid in the development of new research, a pathological categorization of the disease was conceptualized, the so-called AT(N) classification, which evidences gravity rather than the stage. Through this classification it is possible to divide individuals into subgroups: pathophysiological continuum of AD (changes of ²A and Tau), normal (without evidence of some biomarker) and asymptomatic with neurodegeneration (evidence of hippocampal atrophy and/or increased phosphorylated Tau protein) but none specific for AD. A biomarker that could predict the development of dementia even before the development of cognitive symptoms is essential to disrupt the neurodegenerative process, serve as a biological endpoint in clinical trials and development of efficient drugs. Biomarkers acquired by neuroimaging offer important tools to evaluate the disease in vivo and still with the greater benefit of not being an invasive technique. The identification of abnormalities in functional and structural networks may help to understand the development of the disease. Dividing patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in this new classification intends, through a longitudinal study, to observe if there are differences between subgroups and potential neuroimaging biomarkers that can more accurately predict conversion to AD. We intend to refine the neuroimaging analyzes by robust methods that allow us to perform a more personalized analysis for each individual, since it is also not clear if individuals with some neurodegeneration biomarker, amyloid or both, present dysfunctions in functional connectivity and/or between structures anatomical changes, as well as their clinical evolution over time. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MAGALHÃES, Thamires Naela Cardoso. Molecular and neuroimaging biomarkers in patients with mild cognitive impairment: cross-sectional and longitudinal study. 2021. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Ciências Médicas Campinas, SP.