TBI in AD/ADRD: Diagnosis and clinical measurement of progressive neurodegeneration

AD-Related Dementias Focus

Characterize the heterogeneous clinical and biological phenotypes and time course of progressive dementia following varied TBI exposure histories by developing biomarkers and methods to quantify lifetime head trauma exposure and diagnose post-TBI dementias.

2032 RFA-NS-19-026: Clinical and Biological Measures of TBI-related dementia including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) (R01) PAR-22-024: Clinical and Biological Measures of TBI-related Dementia Including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) NOT-NS-24-135: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplement Program to Add Fluid-based Biomarkers and APOE Genotyping to NINDS ADRD Human Subjects Research Grants 11.K In Progress Characterize the clinical phenotype of progressive dementia associated with TBI DN 2019 ADRD Summit: Emerging Scientific Topics, Focus Area 2: TBI and AD/ADRD Risk, Milestone 8 2022 ADRD Summit: Multiple Etiology Dementias (MED) Special Topic: Post-TBI AD/ADRD Milestone 2, Priority 2 Workshop: Imaging the Future of In vivo Neuropathological Diagnosis through Postmortem Analyses Press Release: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) identified in brain donations from young amateur athletes Workshop: NINDS TBI Classification and Nomenclature Enabling Technologies and Disease Monitoring Federal Interagency TBI Research (FITBIR) database Clinical and Biological Measures of TBI-related dementia including Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) (R01) Select projects funded in FY21 Select projects funded in FY22 RFA-NS-23-002: Tools and resources to understand the vascular pathophysiology of in vivo neuroimaging findings in TBI-related dementia and/or VCID (U24 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

  • Develop and disseminate best practices for collecting and sharing clinical data in research studies of AD/ADRD outcomes following TBI.
  • Establish a longitudinal study of individuals with TBI to identify features of AD/ADRD risk following TBI.
  • Support discovery and validation of biomarkers related to AD/ADRD outcomes following TBI.

Summary of Key Accomplishments

A current NIH-funded study (supported under RFA-NS-19-026) is seeking to distinguish between the type of TBI that can trigger gradual, progressive cognitive decline (i.e., dementia) versus TBI that causes chronic, stable cognitive impairment (i.e., not dementia). The study team will leverage already collected TBI data in addition to longitudinally following a cohort and identifying clinical biomarkers (imaging and fluid based) that are specific to TBI/dementia-associated brain changes. The findings from this study will inform future diagnostic research on TBI and dementia and hopefully help clinicians identify individuals with TBI who are at risk for dementia at an early stage.

The key accomplishments summary is current as of July 2022.