Overview

The Relationship Between Neuropsychological Testing and MRI, PET and COBRE - Project 1: AIM 2 (GE-180)

Status:
Enrolling by invitation
Trial end date:
2026-06-30
Target enrollment:
0
Participant gender:
All
Summary
The complex pathological cascades leading to both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) involve, at various points, inflammation. Since inflammation is a treatable symptom, understanding how and when it impacts the brain, and where specifically in the brain, would offer important guidance in the development of new treatments, sorely needed in both diseases. Microglia play an important anti-inflammatory role, and produce a substance, mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO), whose presence can be used as a marker of regional inflammation. GE180 is a newly developed PET ligand which binds to TSPO and hence can be used in imaging studies to analyze regional inflammation in living patients. In prior studies it has shown regional specificity in multiple sclerosis and brain injury. In the current study, the investigators will be using GE180 to analyze regional and global inflammation in the brains of patients with AD and PD at two time points. The results of the current study will provide enriched understanding of inflammation in these conditions, and potentially provide preliminary data to inform design of future interventional trials.
Phase:
Phase 2
Accepts Healthy Volunteers?
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Aaron Ritter, MD
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Be enrolled in CNTN

2. Aged 55 to 90

3. Available study partners

4. Willing and able to participate in longitudinal follow-up study

5. For MCI patients, fit criteria based in Movement Disorders Task Force or NIA

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Significant neurological disorders other than AD or PD;

2. Unstable medical conditions

3. History of major psychiatric diseases

4. MRI evidence of infarction or other focal lesion or multiple lacunes

5. Clinically significant abnormalities in B12 or TSH

6. Identified as having a common polymorphism (rs6971) in the TSPO gene which has been
shown to reduce binding affinity of tracers similar to GE180. This testing will be
done as part of their CNTN participation.