# Peripheral Tissue Biomarker for Premorten Diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia

> **NIH NIH R01** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $975,214

## Abstract

Abstract
This supplemental application will examine the effects of COVID-19 on the disease severity and changes in
diagnostic biomarkers of Lewy body dementia (LBD) affecting 1.4 million people in the U.S. Recent studies have
shown that patients with dementia are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, however, the effects of COVID-
19 infection on the severity and progression of dementia has yet to be systematically examined. Further, it is
unclear how overlapping symptoms between Lewy body diseases and those reported for COVID-19 including
anosmia and various neurological symptoms might further complicate clinical evaluation and diagnosis of LBD.
We will address this research question by testing patients with LBD for active or prior COVID-19 infection and
examining changes in clinical manifestations and diagnostic biomarkers. Within the scope of our parent R01
award and in response to the NIH Notice of Special Interest (NOT-NS-21-037), we propose to consider
COVID-19 status as a biological variable in our human subject studies on LBD with concomitant biomarker
assessments, to be accomplished in two aims. Aim 1 will examine if COVID-19 infection alters disease severity
and progression in LBD patients. LBD patients will be tested for current and prior COVID-19 infection and
undergo standardized clinical assessments and neurological evaluations for parkinsonism, cognitive decline,
and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Aim 2 will assess changes in diagnostic tissue and neuroimaging biomarkers
in LBD patients affected by COVID-19 infection. Our proposed research will provide molecular and
neurophysiological insights into the effects of COVID-19 infection on clinical progression of LBD, with the ultimate
goal of guiding preventative and therapeutic interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401974
- **Project number:** 3R01NS118760-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** SHU G. CHEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $975,214
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401974

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401974, Peripheral Tissue Biomarker for Premorten Diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia (3R01NS118760-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401974. Licensed CC0.

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