African Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as white Americans, but few African Americans are enrolled in large Alzheimer's biomarker studies. The current proposal aims to determine the influence of Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease on memory and aging in African Americans through modern biomarkers (spinal fluid, MRI, and amyloid imaging), and how these may differ between African Americans and white Americans in preparation for a large multi-center study of aging in African American.

NCT02089555

Conditions

1. Mild Cognitive Impairment
2. Alzheimer's Disease

Interventions

1. Procedure: Lumbar puncture
2. Procedure: Blood draw
3. Procedure: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

MeSH:Alzheimer Disease Cognitive Dysfunction

HPO:Alzheimer disease Cognitive impairment Mental deterioration

The Lys56Met ICAM1 gene variant associated with low ICAM-1 levels is uniquely found in 16-20% of AA, and these subjects may have impaired downstream activation of neprilysin, an Abeta-degrading enzyme. --- Lys56Met ---

If the hypothesis is true, AA subjects with the Lys56Met gene variant will be more likely to have hippocampal atrophy, temporal-parietal cerebral hypoperfusion, and cerebral amyloid deposition than AA subjects and NHW subjects without the gene variant. --- Lys56Met ---