Biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease

Tapan Khan

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128051474
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuropsychology
• Index: Psychology

Biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease provides a comprehensive overview of all modalities of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, including neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid, genomic, and peripheral systems. Each chapter integrates molecular/cellular abnormality due to Alzheimer's disease and technological advancement of biomarkers techniques.

The book is ideal for clinical neuroscience and molecular/cellular neuroscience researchers, psychiatrists, and allied healthcare practitioners involved in the diagnosis and management of patients with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, and for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease with other non-Alzheimer's dementia.

• Presents a comprehensive overview detailing all modalities of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers
• Written for neuroscience researchers and clinicians studying or treating patients with Alzheimer's Disease
• Integrates, in each chapter, the molecular/cellular abnormality due to Alzheimer's disease and the technological advancement of biomarkers techniques

Chapter 1

Introduction to Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers

Summary

A discussion of the biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) first requires a brief historical perspective and an introduction to the disease. This chapter provides a brief outline of AD epidemiology, the definition of an AD biomarker, the classification and features of AD, and AD risk factors, followed by a description of the structure and content of each of the following chapters and their focus on specific types of AD biomarkers. The greatest challenge in AD biomarker research is the ability to diagnose AD and assess prognosis while patients are in the preclinical stages of the disease, before clinical symptoms develop, in order to identify those who would benefit from therapeutic intervention. The importance of diagnosing preclinical stages of AD is presented as a major focus of ongoing research in the field of AD biomarker discovery, development, and validation. A discussion of the societal impact of AD and its associated economic burden to the healthcare system is included at the end of the chapter. This book is intended to provide a comprehensive summary of AD, the rationale for identifying AD biomarkers, and their potential applications in AD diagnosis, prognosis, longitudinal disease tracking, evaluating drug efficacy, and guiding therapeutic intervention.

Keywords

biomarker

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers

preclinical AD

risk factors of AD

genetics of AD

economic impact of AD

cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers

neuroimaging biomarkers

genetic biomarkers

peripheral biomarkers

Chapter Outline

1.1 Historical Background

1.2 Important Events in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Research

1.3 Some Facts About Alzheimer’s Disease

1.4 Common Features of Alzheimer’s Disease

1.5 Classification of Alzheimer’s Disease

1.6 Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease

1.7 Definition of a Biomarker

1.7.1 A. Categorization of Biomarkers According to Their Role

1.7.2 B. Definition of Common Statistical Parameters to Quantify the Performance of Biomarkers

1.8 Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease

1.9 Future Focus: Detecting Preclinical Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

1.10 Economic Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers

1.11 Conclusions

Bibliography

1.1. Historical Background

Alzheimer disease (AD) was discovered in 1906 by Dr. Alois Alzheimer based on his observations and treatment of a 51-year-old patient, Miss Augusta “D” (Maurer et al., 1997; Strassnig and Ganguli, 2005), at the Frankfurt Psychiatric Hospital starting in Nov 1901. At the time, Dr. Alzheimer was a senior assistant at the institution. When Miss Augusta “D” died on Apr. 8, 1906, Dr. Alzheimer conducted the autopsy of her brain and described the morphological and histological changes in the brain that continue to stand as hallmarks of modern day AD neuropathology (Hippius and Neundörfer, 2003). Dr. Alzheimer presented his first report of Alzheimer’s disease at a congress in Tübingen, Germany, in 1906. He described two neuropathological phenomena: amyloid plaques, which he referred to as “miliary bodies,” and neurofibrillary tangles, which he described as “dense bundles of fibrils.” In 1910, Dr. Emil Kraepelin (Dr. Alzheimer’s supervisor) introduced the term “Alzheimer’s disease” to recognize Dr. Alzheimer’s contribution to the discovery of this disorder. Dr. Alzheimer died in 1915 without knowing the outstanding contribution he made to the history of medica...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Introduction to Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers
• Chapter 2: Clinical Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
• Chapter 3: Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease
• Chapter 4: Genetic Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease
• Chapter 5: Alzheimer’s Disease Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Biomarkers
• Chapter 6: Peripheral Fluid-Based Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease
• Chapter 7: Cell-Based Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers
• Index