# Contribution of Cerebral Iron Load to Elderly Individuals with High Risk to Develop Alzheimer's Disease.

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $206,824

## Abstract

Project Summary: Dementia has a high global prevalence due to the aging population, places an enormous
burden on health care systems. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and it is
widely believed that the accumulation of Amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide is a key event in the pathogenesis of AD,
representing preclinical disease stages. Cerebral iron is strongly implicated as a cofactor in the pathogenesis
of AD, and its overload accelerates Aβ production and promotes the toxicity of the Aβ peptide. However, the
impact of brain iron load on cognitive performance and prevalence of regional Aβ-plaque-load in AD and its
precursor, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), is lacking. Our overall aim is to study the role of brain iron load in
the development of cognitive decline, MCI and dementia, in particular AD. We are uniquely positioned to carry
out this project in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, which has collected clinical data from
cohort participants over the past 30 years. A biracial sample of elderly adults was evaluated by brain MRI and
cognitive tests at study visit 5 with repeat testing underway at visit 6. We will utilize the often-discarded phase
signal from gradient echo MRI data at visit 6 (n=1,000) to compute quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).
Brain iron load will be automatically quantified using our recent developed susceptibility multi-atlas tool.
Accordingly, we propose to determine the contribution of cerebral iron load in ARIC participants based on QSM
approach with the following specific aims. Aim 1: Establish if increased cerebral iron measures are
independently associated with dementia or mild cognitive (MCI) in ARIC participants aged 73-94 years. Aim 2:
To relate known midlife dementia risk factors and dietary intake with cerebral iron load measured late-life.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9863984
- **Project number:** 5R21AG061668-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Xu Li
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $206,824
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-15 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9863984

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9863984, Contribution of Cerebral Iron Load to Elderly Individuals with High Risk to Develop Alzheimer's Disease. (5R21AG061668-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9863984. Licensed CC0.

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