# The ARIC-PET Amyloid Imaging Study

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $520,016

## Abstract

Project Summary
Identification of successful prevention and treatment strategies for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has remained
elusive, partially because clinical symptoms of AD have a late presentation in disease development, but also
because there are not clear targets directly related to AD neuropathology for which definitive treatment is
available. Thus, focusing on possible treatment and prevention targets that can be identified well before onset
of clinical disease and which are known to be treatable is critical in addressing AD. The vascular contribution to
cognitive impairment and dementia, including AD, offers an important opportunity for prevention and treatment.
Further, evidence suggests that vascular risk factors, including hypertension and diabetes, as well as brain
cerebrovascular changes (i.e. white matter hyperintensities), contribute most to the development of cognitive
decline and dementia when they are present in midlife (well before clinical AD usually presents). Some of this
evidence has been established by the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a
community-based biracial cohort study of individuals from four US communities, with nearly 30 years of
vascular risk factors and marker data, and its primary ancillary study, the ARIC Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-
NCS). The ARIC-PET Amyloid Imaging Study, the renewal of which is being proposed in this application, built
on the valuable data available in ARIC and ARIC-NCS. By focusing on brain amyloid-β deposition, which in
leading hypotheses is responsible for the development of AD, the ARIC-PET study further evaluated the
associations between midlife vascular risk factors and AD. In the initial phase of this study, we completed 347
brain amyloid PET scans, using florbetapir PET, among participants from three ARIC sites. We found higher
rates of brain amyloid in participants who were older, female, carried an APOE ϵ4 allele (the primary genetic
risk factor for AD), and who were of black race. Although our data did not support a general association
between midlife vascular risk factors and brain amyloid, for persons with “two hits”: a high genetic risk (carriers
of an APOE ϵ4 allele) and elevated midlife vascular risk, our data do suggest more brain amyloid deposition.
Finally, our data suggest that cognition is worse among participants who have both elevated brain amyloid and
high amounts of brain cerebrovascular disease, on MRI. This renewal application proposes a repeat brain MRI
and florbetapir (amyloid) PET scan among all surviving non-demented participants of ARIC-PET, to evaluate
how vascular risk factors and brain subclinical vascular changes and APOE genotype each contribute to the
progression of brain amyloid as well as the progression of clinical cognitive status, including conversion to mild
cognitive impairment and dementia. Further, we will evaluate progression of brain cerebrovascular changes as
a risk factor for progression of brain amyloid and clini...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10164688
- **Project number:** 5R01AG040282-10
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEF CORESH
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $520,016
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-09-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10164688

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10164688, The ARIC-PET Amyloid Imaging Study (5R01AG040282-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10164688. Licensed CC0.

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