Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, University of Pittsburgh / 31.05.2023
Pittsburgh Researchers Find Biomarker To Identify Alzheimer’s Risk in Unimpaired Individuals
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Bruna Bellaver PhD
Postdoctoral associate Department of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh
Tharick Pascoal, MD, Ph.D.
Neurologist and assistant professor of Neurology and Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition is considered one of the markers of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain. The sequential order of this cascade includes the development of tau pathology and consequent cognitive decline.
However, many people with Aβ deposition in the brain do not progress in the disease, suggesting that other biological processes are playing a role in these pathological events. In vitro evidence suggests that reactive astrocytes unleash Aβ effects in pathological tau phosphorylation.
We found that, in cognitively healthy individuals, Aβ is associated with tau pathology only in individuals with increased astrocyte reactivity.
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Dr. Amy Kennedy, M.D., M.S
Clinician-Researcher Fellow, General Internal Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: UPMC uses a nucleic acid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 and specimen collection is done with a nasopharyngeal swab by trained clinicians. The health system developed its COVID-19 test in early March 2020 in anticipation of the tremendous need for diagnostic capabilities.
My colleagues and I worked with the Wolff Center at UPMC — the health system’s quality care and improvement center — to review the results of more than 30,000 COVID-19 tests performed on adult patients who received care through one of UPMC’s 40 academic, community and specialty hospitals, or 700 doctors’ offices and outpatient sites in Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. The tests were performed between March 3 and May 3, 2020. Of those tests, 485 were repeated at least once.