# Alzheimer's Disease Biomarker for Diagnosis and Prognosis

> **NIH NIH R21** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $228,159

## Abstract

Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia leading to irreversible neurodegeneration
and cognitive decline. Despite extensive efforts and numerous clinical trials of potential disease-modifying
therapies, there is yet no effective way to cure or prevent this disease. The core pathological hallmarks of AD
are extracellular deposits of the aggregated Aβ42 protein (amyloid plaques) and intracellular aggregates of
hyper-phosphorylated tau (neurofibrillary tangles). It is well established that defective autophagy in neuronal
cells contribute to disease pathology in AD. Autophagy is a physiological process and conserved degradation
pathway which is involved in the basal turnover of long-lived proteins and organelles. Several studies
demonstrated that autophagy plays an important role in amyloid clearance from the brain and that impaired
autophagy contribute to amyloid aggregation in AD brains. It is well accepted now that deterioration of
autophagy activity precedes the accumulation of Aβ42 and neuronal loss. In this project we will explore the
usage of a new marker for dysfunctional autophagy in AD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10071434
- **Project number:** 1R21AG067755-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Amal O Amer
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $228,159
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10071434

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10071434, Alzheimer's Disease Biomarker for Diagnosis and Prognosis (1R21AG067755-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10071434. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*