NEW YORK – The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology said Friday that it is collaborating with Phenome Health and the Buck Institute for Research in Aging on a pilot study to examine how genetics and lifestyle influence a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
The collaborators are currently enrolling approximately 200 healthy adults between the ages of 65 and 75 into the pilot, called HOPE AD (Healthy Outcomes through Phenomic Explorations for Alzheimer’s Disease).
HOPE AD aims to build a detailed picture of Alzheimer's risk by combining genetic information with data on participants' health, environment, and lifestyle.
Participants will undergo cognitive testing, wellness assessments, and family and medical history reviews. Investigators will also assess them for APOE status and pTau217 protein levels and will calculate their Alzheimer's polygenic risk score. Those individuals deemed to have higher disease risk will be invited to participate in a yearlong lifestyle intervention program, consisting of personalized coaching on factors like nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and cognitive engagement.
HOPE AD researchers will evaluate how changes in these factors impact health over time, with the hope of establishing a new standard of care.
"Alzheimer's disease and other dementias begin years before any symptoms appear, so waiting until someone shows signs of memory decline may be too late," Nick Cochran, a HudsonAlpha faculty investigator and lead researcher on the study, said in a statement.
"We also want to understand how knowing their risk affects people’s choices. Do they feel more motivated to take action?" added Meagan Cochran, study co-investigator and director of the Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine in Huntsville, Alabama, where the study takes place. "That’s a crucial part of prevention that we hope this study will help answer."
HudsonAlpha is investigating genetic components of other disorders in addition to Alzheimer's. Last year, the institute received a $2.9 million grant from the US National Institutes of Health to study rare diseases in children using long-read sequencing.