MIR Researchers Find Faster Alzheimer’s Progression in People with Down Syndrome

A new study shows that Alzheimer’s disease moves more rapidly and begins earlier in patients with Down syndrome. The study is part of a long-held collaboration between the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) — an international network led by Washington University to study autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s — and the national Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium-Down Syndrome (ABC-DS), of which Washington University is a part.

Through these large consortiums, researchers were able to compare Alzheimer’s development and progression in both patients with autosomal-dominant Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome-linked Alzheimer’s disease.

The study results have important implications in the treatment and care of patients with Down syndrome-linked Alzheimer’s, whose cognitive decline usually begins around the time they reach their 50s.

“By studying how Alzheimer’s develops in these two unique populations, we are building a more detailed and nuanced understanding of Alzheimer’s pathology that could lead to better diagnostics and therapies for people with any form of the disease,” said Brian A. Gordon, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and co-senior author. Gordon’s fellow Neuroimaging Labs Researcher Center investigator Beau M. Ances, MD, PhD, the Daniel J. Brennan Professor of Neurology, was co-senior author on the paper.

Read more from the School of Medicine.