39th Annual Arthur Benton Lecture
(Virtual)
Monday, January 22, 2024
7:00PM - 8:00PM
“Cognitive and Biomarker Changes During Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease”
Speaker:
Marilyn Albert, Ph.D.
Biography:
Dr. Marilyn Albert is Professor of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is Director of the Division of Cognitive Neuroscience and Director of the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Over the course of her career, she has conducted several large longitudinal studies aimed at improving our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most recent of which is focused on the earliest phases of AD. This work uses biomarkers based on imaging, cerebrospinal fluid, blood and genetics to better understand the earliest phases of AD. In addition, she has a long- standing interest in the study of lifestyle factors that influence risk of cognitive decline as people get older.
Dr. Albert has authored over 340 peer-reviewed publications. She has received many awards for her contributions to AD research; most recently, the Henry Wisniewski Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the Alzheimer’s Association in 2019 and the Raymond D. Adams Lectureship Award given by the American Neurological Association in 2023.
Financial Disclosure(s): No relevant disclosures
Abstract: The hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology, amyloid plaques and tau tangles, begin to accumulate in the brain as early as middle age, when individuals are cognitively normal. Recent studies of cognitively unimpaired individuals who have been followed longitudinally over time indicate that AD biomarkers of these pathological features (based on imaging and fluid biomarkers), as well as cognitive test scores in specific domains, are altered prior to the onset of clinical symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Moreover, these cognitive and biomarker measures are associated with time to progress from normal cognition to the onset of MCI. These, and related findings, suggest that this preclinical phase of AD offers a window of opportunity for early intervention. More research is needed to identify novel biomarkers that may improve prediction and reveal new treatment targets. It is also important to quantify the additional pathologies that are commonly seen in older individuals with cognitive impairment (e.g., vascular disease, TDP-43) in order to develop optimal treatment strategies.
Learning Objectives:
1. To explain current concepts of the asymptomatic and symptomatic phases of Alzheimer’s disease.
2. To describe the cognitive changes that occur during the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease.
3. To describe the neuroimaging and fluid biomarker changes that occur during the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease.
4. To assess the relevance of the cognitive and biomarker changes during preclinical Alzheimer’s disease for potential strategies for treatment interventions.
References:
1. Greenberg B, Pettigrew C, Soldan A, Wang J, Wang M-C, Darrow J, Albert M, Moghekar A. CSF Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers: Time-varying relationships with MCI symptom onset, and associations with age, sex and ApoE4. Neurology, 2022; 99: e1640-e1650.
2. Kamalian A, Ho S, Patel M, Lewis A, Bakker A, Albert M, O’Brien R, Moghekar A, Lutz M. Exploratory assessment of proteomic network changes in cerebrospinal fluid of mild cognitive impairment patients: a pilot study. Biomolecules, 2023; 13:1094.
3. Luo J, Agboola F, Grant E, Morris J, Masters C, Albert M, Johnson S, McDade E, Fagan A, Benzinger T, Hassenstab J, Bateman R, Perrin R, Wang G, Li Y, Gordon B, Cruchaga C, Day G, Levin J, Vöglein J, Ikeuchi T, Suzuki K, Allegri R, Xiong C. Accelerated longitudinal changes and ordering of Alzheimer disease biomarkers across the adult lifespan, Brain, 2022, 145: 4459-4473.
4. Pettigrew C, Soldan A, Wang J, Wang M-C, Greenberg B, Albert M, Moghekar A. Longitudinal CSF Alzheimer’s biomarker changes from middle age to late adulthood. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, 2022; 14: e12374.
5. Soldan A, Oh S, Ryu T, Pettigrew C, Zhu Y, Moghekar A, Xiao M-F, Pontone G, Albert M, Na C-H, Worley P. NPTX2 in cerebrospinal fluid predicts progression to mild cognitive impairment. Annals of Neurology, 2023; 94:620-631.
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Members: FREE or $15 (1.0 CE credit*)
Student Members: FREE
Non-members: $30, which includes attendance & 1.0 CE credit*
* New York Neuropsychology Group is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0107
* New York Neuropsychology Group is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. NYNG maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Refund Policy: Full refund will be provided if cancellation occurs up to 24 hours prior to the event. Cancellation requests made within 24 hours are non-refundable.
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