Discover the Science of Health
Dr. Menahem Segal, head of the Laboratory of Neuronal Plasticity at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, studies the neuronal basis of long term memory in the brain. Of particular interest are conditions that are associated with deterioration of memory systems, such as those occurring in Alzheimer’s disease patients and mentally retarded children.
Scientists have long debated whether Alzheimer’s disease starts in separate regions of the brain independently and at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads. Data from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center supports the latter model, showing that abnormal tau protein — a key feature observed in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease — propagates along anatomically connected networks, between connected and vulnerable neurons. The study was published earlier this month in the online journal PLoS ONE [1].
Image credit: Neurons network in human brain via ShutterstockNeoprobe’s newly licensed radiopharmaceutical imaging agent, AZD4694, is a fluorine-18 labeled radioligand for use in the imaging and evaluation of patients with signs or symptoms of cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Thomas Tulip, Ph.D., Neoprobe’s Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer:
We believe AZD4694 has a compelling global commercial outlook and should beneficially facilitate development of more effective disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease. This potentially powerful second-generation agent with apparent best-in-class properties has demonstrated strong performance attributes. We believe AZD4694 imaging may be quite useful as an adjunct measure in the diagnosis of this large, growing disease and may allow patients to seek earlier, and therefore potentially more effective, treatment options.
An estimated 35 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. A 2009 report by the London-based nonprofit Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), an international federation of 71 national Alzheimer organizations (including the Alzheimer’s Association), indicates that the number of people with dementia is expected to grow sharply to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050.
AZD4694 binds to beta-amyloid deposits in the brain and can then be imaged in positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Amyloid plaque pathology is a required feature of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and the presence of amyloid pathology is a supportive feature for diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease. Patients who are negative for amyloid pathology do not have Alzheimer’s disease.
Neoprobe Corporation, a Dublin, Ohio-based company, develops and commercializes innovative biomedical products that meet critical intraopertive, diagnostic and therapeutic treatment needs of patients and physicans. In January, Neoprobe will officially change its name to Navidea Biopharmaceuticals to reflect the company’s transformation to a biopharmaceutical company focused on targeted diagnostic agents.
Source: Neoprobe
Biomarker Bulletin is an occasionally recurring update of news focused on biomarkers aggregated at BiomarkerCommons.org. Biomarkers are physical, functional or biochemical indicators of normal physiological or disease processes. The individualization of disease management — personalized medicine — is dependent on developing biomarkers that promote specific clinical domains, including early detection, risk, diagnosis, prognosis and predicted response to therapy.
A satellite symposium, Recent Advances in Biomarker Discovery for Parkinson’s Disease, is being sponsored by Covance on November 13th, 2011 at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) will be holding an afternoon event in January 2012 that focuses on biomarkers and brain imaging of presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.
Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health announced that the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Institute will support mission-relevant investigator-initiated Phase I, II, III or IV clinical trial cooperative agreement applications or biomarker evaluation studies that require prospective collection of clinical outcomes and clinical specimens.
The National Institutes of Health announced Thursday that the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) will support studies that propose adapting adult biomarkers to children.
CLC bio is participating in a $4 million Danish collaboration focused on the identification and validation of biomarkers of prostate cancer risk and aggressiveness.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has partnered with the Department of Defense (DoD) to build a central database on traumatic brain injuries. Funded at $10 million over four years, the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) database is designed to accelerate comparative effectiveness research on brain injury treatment and diagnosis. It will serve as a central repository for new data, link to current databases and allow valid comparison of results across studies.
