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Feasibility study for detection of retinal amyloid in clinical trials: The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) trial
Ngolab J, Donohue M, Belsha A, Salazar J, Cohen P, Jaiswal S, Tan V, Gessert D et al.. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2021-08-17
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Introduction The retina and brain exhibit similar pathologies in patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases. The ability to access the retina through imaging techniques opens the possibility for non-invasive evaluation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. While retinal amyloid deposits are detected in individuals clinically diagnosed with AD, studies including preclinical individuals are lacking, limiting assessment of the feasibility of retinal imaging as a biomarker for early-stage AD risk detection. Methods In this small cross-sectional study we compare retinal and cerebral amyloid in clinically normal individuals who screened positive for high amyloid levels through positron emission tomography (PET) from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) trial as well as a companion cohort of individuals who exhibited low levels of amyloid PET in the Longitudinal Evaluation of Amyloid Risk and Neurodegeneration (LEARN) study. We quantified the number of curcumin-positive fluorescent retinal spots from a small subset of participants from both studies to determine retinal amyloid deposition at baseline. Results The four participants from the A4 trial showed a greater number of retinal spots compared to the four participants from the LEARN study. We observed a positive correlation between retinal spots and brain amyloid, as measured by the standardized uptake value ratio (SUVr). Discussion The results of this small pilot study support the use of retinal fundus imaging for detecting amyloid deposition that is correlated with brain amyloid PET SUVr. A larger sample size will be necessary to fully ascertain the relationship between amyloid PET and retinal amyloid both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.
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APA 7th
Ngolab, J., Donohue, M., Belsha, A., Salazar, J., Cohen, P., Jaiswal, S., et al. (2021). Feasibility study for detection of retinal amyloid in clinical trials: The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) trial. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands). https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12199
Vancouver
Ngolab J, Donohue M, Belsha A, Salazar J, Cohen P, Jaiswal S, et al. Feasibility study for detection of retinal amyloid in clinical trials: The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) trial. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2021. doi:10.1002/dad2.12199. PMID: 34430703.
BibTeX
@article{ngolab2021-34430703,
author = {Ngolab, J. and Donohue, M. and Belsha, A. and Salazar, J. and Cohen, P. and Jaiswal, S. and Tan, V. and Gessert, D. and others},
title = {{Feasibility study for detection of retinal amyloid in clinical trials: The Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) trial}},
journal = {Alzheimer's \& dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1002/dad2.12199},
pmid = {34430703},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12199}
}
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Key findings
- Results The four participants from the A4 trial showed a greater number of retinal spots compared to the four participants from the LEARN study.
- We observed a positive correlation between retinal spots and brain amyloid, as measured by the standardized uptake value ratio (SUVr).
- Discussion The results of this small pilot study support the use of retinal fundus imaging for detecting amyloid deposition that is correlated with brain amyloid PET SUVr.
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Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 57/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 33 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 57 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 3 / 5 | 2021 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 34430703) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 33 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 33 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 57 out of 100. |
| Total | 57 / 100 | — |
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