Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) is a multisite study that aims to improve clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). [1] This cooperative study combines expertise and funding from the private and public sector to study subjects with AD, as well as those who may develop AD and controls with no signs of cognitive impairment. [2] Researchers at 63 sites in the US and Canada track the progression of AD in the human brain with neuroimaging, biochemical, and genetic biological markers. [2] [3] This knowledge helps to find better clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of AD. ADNI has made a global impact, [4] firstly by developing a set of standardized protocols to allow the comparison of results from multiple centers, [4] and secondly by its data-sharing policy which makes available all at the data without embargo to qualified researchers worldwide. [5] To date, over 1000 scientific publications have used ADNI data. [6] A number of other initiatives related to AD and other diseases have been designed and implemented using ADNI as a model. [4] ADNI has been running since 2004 and is currently funded until 2021. [7]
The idea of a collaboration between public institutions and private pharmaceutical companies to fund a large biomarker project to study AD and to speed up progress toward effective treatments for the disease was conceived at the beginning of the millennium by Neil S. Buckholz at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and Dr. William Potter, at Eli Lilly and Company. [1] The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) began in 2004 under the leadership of Dr. Michael W. Weiner, funded as a private – public partnership with $27 million contributed by 20 companies and two foundations through the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and $40 million from the NIA. The initial five-year study (ADNI-1) was extended by two years in 2009 by a Grant Opportunities grant, and in 2011 and 2016 by further competitive renewals of the ADNI-1 grant (ADNI-2 and ADNI-3, respectively) [7] (Table 1).
ADNI enrolls participants between the ages of 55 and 90 who are recruited at 57 sites in the US and Canada. One group has dementia due to AD, another group has mild memory problems known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and the final control group consists of healthy elderly participants. ADNI-1 initially enrolled 200 healthy elderly, 400 participants with MCI, and 200 participants with AD. [6] ADNI-GO, ADNI-2 and ADNI -3 added additional participants to augment the cohort, for final cohort size of over 1000 participants [7] (Table 1).
Table 1:
Study characteristics | ADNI-1 | ADNI-GO | ADNI-2 | ADNI-3 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Primary goal | Developed biomarkers as outcome measures for clinical trials | Examine biomarkers in earlier stages of disease | Develop biomarkers as predictors of cognitive decline, and as outcome measures | Study the use of tau PET and functional imaging techniques and clinical trials |
Funding | $40 million federal (NIA), $27 million industry and foundation | $24 million American Recovery Act funds | $40 million federal (NIA), $27 million industry and foundation | $40 million federal (NIA), $20 million industry and foundation |
Duration/start date | 5 years/October 2004 | 2 years/September 2009 | 5 years/September 2011 | 5 years/September 2016 |
Cohort | 200 elderly controls 400 MCI 200 AD | Existing ADNI-1 + 200 early MCI | Existing ADNI-GO+ 150 elderly controls 100 early MCI 150 late MCI 150 late mild cognitive impairment 150 AD | Existing ADNI-2 + 133 elderly controls |
ADNI uses a variety of techniques to study its participants. After obtaining informed consent, participants undergo a series of initial tests that are repeated at intervals over subsequent years (Table 2): [2]
Table 2
Study techniques | ADNI-1 | ADNI-GO | ADNI-2 | ADNI-3 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Imaging | ||||
MRI | ||||
Structural | X | X | X | X |
Perfusion | X | X | X | |
Resting state | X | X | X | |
Diffusion | X | X | X | |
Connectomics | X | |||
High resolution | X | |||
PET | ||||
Glucose metabolism | X | X | X | |
β-amyloid | [11C] Pittsburgh compound | [18F] florbetapir | [18F] florbetapir | [18F] florbetapir/Florbetaben |
Tau | [18F] T807 | |||
Biosamples | ||||
CSF β-amyloid, tau | X | X | X | X |
Genetic analysis | ||||
APOE | X | X | X | X |
Genome wide association studies | X | X | X | X |
Whole genome sequencing | X | X | ||
Systems biology approaches | X | |||
Neuropsychological tests | X | X | X | X |
Autopsy | X | X | X | X |
One defining characteristic of ADNI is the commitment by all participating research groups to share ownership of the data prior to the completion of the research and by collaborators to forgo any patent opportunities. This has been described by the head of the ADNI and data publications committee as "a radical experiment in open data access". [3] All data generated by the ADNI study are entered into the data archive hosted at the Laboratory of NeuroImaging (LONI) at the University of Southern California. [5] In 2013, whole genome sequencing data for the entire ADNI cohort were added to the LONI database. [8] Qualified researchers worldwide can access image and clinical data sets that have undergone quality control procedures. To date nearly 1800 applications for data use have been received from investigators in multiple disciplines, and over 7 million brain scan images and clinical data sets have been downloaded. [9]
ADNI contributes data to a number of consortia and big data projects which have the potential to unlock many of the mysteries of neurological diseases. [10] It shares imaging and genetic data with the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium which uses imaging genetics to study 12 major brain diseases including schizophrenia, bipolar disease and depression. [11] The ADNI dataset was also used as the "test" dataset in the Dialogue on Reverse Engineering Assessment and Methods (DREAM) Alzheimer's disease Big Data Challenge #1 for the discovery of novel predictive AD biomarkers. [12] One measure of the success of this open data sharing approach is the number of scientific publications arising from ADNI data: currently over 1000 and a wide variety of fields including areas outside of Alzheimer's disease. [9]
ADNI has developed standardized protocols that allow results from multiple centers both within the study and worldwide to be directly compared. [4] These include methods for the acquisition and quality control of both MRI and PET scans on scanners differing in the vendor, software platform, and field strength, and also for the analysis of CSF biomarkers. The standardized methods [13] are now used by pharmaceutical companies, and in clinical trials of preventive and disease modifying AD treatments.
An initial goal of ADNI was to understand the development of AD pathology by tracking imaging and CSF biomarkers throughout disease progression [1] according to the amyloid hypothesis.
A model of how different AD biomarkers change during the development of the AD [14] [15] proposed that biomarkers become abnormal in the following order:
This model has been largely validated using longitudinal ADNI data in patients who have abnormal levels of amyloid deposition, [9] [16] consistent with the amyloid hypothesis.
Studies using ADNI cross-sectional and longitudinal MRI, PET, genetics, cognitive, biological fluid, and autopsy data have reported that:
ADNI data has been used to test many diagnostic and prognostic machine learning algorithms. [9] The most successful to date have used deep learning approaches that combine longitudinal data chronicling changes in biomarkers over time from more than one imaging, genetic, or biological modality.
Diagnosis
One example [9] of a combination of biomarkers that can accurately diagnose AD is:
A second approach to diagnosis is to extract the most pertinent information from MRI scans alone. [9] Deep learning algorithms can diagnose AD with greater than 95% accuracy, [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] and can diagnose MCI due to AD with greater than 82% accuracy. [31] [35] [36]
As imaging scans are expensive and sometimes unavailable, and the analysis of CSF requires an invasive lumbar puncture procedure, ADNI blood samples are being used to develop diagnostic blood tests for clinical use. These are currently not as accurate as other methods. [37] [38]
Prediction
Deep learning algorithms which extract the most pertinent information from MRI scans can also predict the progression of MCI patients to AD several years in advance with accuracies of greater than 90%. [39]
The major aim of ADNI is to develop biomarkers to enable successful clinical trials. AD clinical trials are now focusing on preventing the disease rather than curing it. [40] Because AD pathology develops many years before outward signs of the disease such as memory loss, preventive therapies are targeted to cognitively normal people. [40] ADNI studies have focused on two aspects of clinical trials in particular: 1) how best to select trial participants who don't yet show any signs of cognitive impairment but who are at a high risk of developing AD (subject selection); and 2) how to detect the effect of a therapy (outcome measures).
Subject selection
ADNI studies have shown that people who are β-amyloid positive or have a small hippocampal volume, or carry an APOE ε4 allele are at a higher risk for AD. [9] Therefore, clinical trial participants can be selected using these criteria. (39). Moreover, use of the selection strategy can reduce the number of participants required to detect a treatment effect over feasible trial (for example 3 years).
Outcome measures
In the US, only cognitive tests have been approved as outcome measures for detecting clinical change in AD clinical trials. Studies using ADNI data have helped refine these tests to be more sensitive to very early changes in cognition. [45] [46] ADNI is working to develop imaging biomarkers such as various brain atrophy MRI measures as alternative outcome measures to these cognitive tests. [47] [48]
ADNI-3 will follow current and additional patients with normal cognition, MCI, and AD for a further five years. [7] The approach is unique to the study are:
ADNI's organization, funding structures, standardized methodologies, and open datasharing approaches have been used in a number of different studies.
Alzheimer's disease related
Other diseases
Imaging genetics refers to the use of anatomical or physiological imaging technologies as phenotypic assays to evaluate genetic variation. Scientists that first used the term imaging genetics were interested in how genes influence psychopathology and used functional neuroimaging to investigate genes that are expressed in the brain.
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Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a neurocognitive disorder which involves cognitive impairments beyond those expected based on an individual's age and education but which are not significant enough to interfere with instrumental activities of daily living. MCI may occur as a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease. It includes both memory and non-memory impairments. The cause of the disorder remains unclear, as well as both its prevention and treatment, with some 50 percent of people diagnosed with it going on to develop Alzheimer's disease within five years. The diagnosis can also serve as an early indicator for other types of dementia, although MCI may remain stable or even remit.
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Florbetaben, a fluorine-18 (18F)-labeled stilbene derivative, trade name NeuraCeq, is a diagnostic radiotracer developed for routine clinical application to visualize β-amyloid plaques in the brain. It is indicated for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of β-amyloid neuritic plaque density in the brains of adult patients with cognitive impairment who are being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other causes of cognitive impairment. β-amyloid is a key neuropathological hallmark of AD, so markers of β-amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain are useful in distinguishing AD from other causes of dementia. The tracer successfully completed a global multicenter phase 0–III development program and obtained approval in Europe, US and South Korea in 2014.
Sanjay Asthana is Chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and holds the Duncan G. and Lottie H. Ballantine Endowed Chair in Geriatrics. Since 2009, Asthana has also served as Director of the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
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