Transcript Update and Thank you to participants

Update and Thank you to
participants
Bradley Hyman MD PhD
Director, Mass ADRC
ViceChair, Neurology, Massachusetts
General Hospital
HABS turns 5 and the Mass ADRC
turns 30!
One of the three oldest Centers of Excellence in the
country – our data combined with other Centers leads
to >10,000 individuals actively enrolled in studies
What have we learned?
• What causes age related memory problems or
neurodegenerative diseases?
– Genes!
Alzgene.org
• 20 new genetic risk factors – many discovered at MGH
– Risk factors! Alzrisk.org
• Primary studies and reviews of the day to day factors that
might impact your chance of having memory problems or
dementia
– Natural history and early changes
• New definition of the disease from neuropathological
studies and new imaging studies – mainly from the ADRC.
What were important questions
25 years ago?
Why do patients have memory problems as they
age?
Why do some people get AD, and others don’t?
What goes wrong in the AD brain?
How can we treat or prevent AD?
The lesions and genes affecting the
Alzheimer Brain
Tau tangles form
Neurons die
Amyloid plaques form
Inherited genes predispose
Natural history
Clinical diagnosis
New understanding of disease led to new
definitions from international working
groups led in part by Drs Hyman, Sperling,
Frosch and Blacker in 2012 and 2013
Ingelsson et al
T807 binding represents tangles
Keith Johnson, 2014
AT8 Histochemistry
18F T807
SUVR
• 70 y/o MCI
• MMSE = 28
• PiB (mcDVR)
= 1.53
2.0
1.0
SUVR
2.0
1.4
Braak 2006
Early diagnosis and new therapies
• Early changes in
amyloid, tau, and
behaviors such as the
sense of smell precede
and to some extent
anticipate cognitive
deterioration.
• Early diagnosis – even
presymptomatic
diagnosis – might lead
to a window where we
can intervene.
• The A4 trial – led by Dr
Sperling and Rentz
New projects pushing the frontiers of science
Why are some people
resilient to disease?
- Dr Teresa Gomez Isla
Can we see the loss of
neurons with a new
generation of MRI
scanner? - Dr Trey
Hedden
Can we create better
animal models of
disease?
Dr Brad Hyman
It’s a great partnership!
Thank
you!!!!!