Molecular genetic analysis of Alzheimer dementia.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. In the majority of AD patients the molecular cause of neurodegeneration is so far unknown. Once AD appears it can be considered as an end point of several disease processes which impedes the research of the exact etiology. Intermediate phenotypes such as the episodic memory, which change early in the pathological process are more directly under influence of the underlying genetic factors and can therefore support the genetic research of AD. By a molecular genetic approach this project will contribute to the research of the neurodegenerative process in AD and will therefore lead to a better understanding of the etiology of dementia. Genetic association studies on selected candidate genes as well as genomic association studies will be performed in a large and well characterized Belgian AD population. The role of the identified AD risk genes in the conversion of "Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)" to AD will be further investigated in MCI patients. Results from the AD research will also be analyzed in a group of healthy individuals coming from a Swedish memory population. Additionally we will identify novel biomarkers in plasma or cerebrospinal fluid using amyloid beta quantifications and proteomics profiling experiments. When genetic informative multiplex families are available, genomic linkage studies will be carried out.

Keywords:MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, MOLECULAR GENETICS, LINKAGE ANALYSIS, ALZHEIMER DEMENTIA, ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS

Disciplines:Genetics, Microbiology, Systems biology, Molecular and cell biology, Neurosciences, Veterinary medicine, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing