Memory Disorders - Neill R. Graff-Radford

Amyloid-Beta as a Predictor of Alzheimer's Disease Risk

In this study, Steven G. Younkin, M.D., Ph.D., and Neill R. Graff-Radford, M.D., have been following 800 people with clinical and neuropsychology conditions and collecting plasma annually for five to 10 years.

The project aims to determine if plasma measures of amyloid-beta (Aβ) can help predict some of the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. An important question the study may answer is whether a blood test can be used to screen people for Alzheimer's disease risk.

Related to this study, Drs. Younkin and Graff-Radford also collaborate with Ronald C. Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging in Rochester, Minn. In this study, Dr. Petersen and colleagues follow 3,000 people and evaluate them annually. A subset of this population has had Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) brain scans — which image Aβ plaques — and lumbar punctures.