# Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Racial Disparity in Molecular Biomarkers of Alzheimer Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $3,024,874

## Abstract

Currently, almost all molecular biomarker studies in Alzheimer disease (AD) and clinical trials on AD have been
largely limited to Caucasian participants. The fundamental question is whether AD, as currently defined, is the
same disease for African Americans, the largest under-represented group (URG) in the US, and Caucasians,
both in the preclinical and symptomatic stages. Conflicting results have thus far appeared in the literature about
this very question, largely due to the limited sample sizes of African Americans in published studies. We propose
to tackle these problems by implementing a multi-center and longitudinal study with a central and standardized
re-processing of all currently existing and prospectively collected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) structural scans, and positron emission tomography (PET) beta-amyloid and PET tau
imaging scans, in addition to a harmonization of clinical and cognitive outcomes. We will join forces with five
major biomarker studies of AD: the Washington University Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC),
University of Pennsylvania AD Core Center, Emory University ADRC, Harvard Aging Brain Study, and the Anti-
Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's trial. We will assemble likely the largest biomarker data set of
African Americans, and analyze resulting AD biomarker and cognitive data in a comprehensive manner to
examine the racial disparity in both the preclinical and the symptomatic stages. We will further assess the roles
that AD risk factors, APOE ε4 status, family history, age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, and vascular
burden play in cross sectional and longitudinal differences between African Americans and Caucasians. We will
also determine the racial differences in the predictability of AD biomarkers to concurrent and longitudinal
cognitive outcomes. These racial differences, if confirmed by the proposed study on the largest African
Americans biomarker cohort, may imply potentially differential treatment responses between the races, and
hence will have profound implications to the design and analyses of ongoing and future prevention and treatment
trials of AD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9974916
- **Project number:** 1R01AG067505-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** CHENGJIE XIONG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $3,024,874
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9974916

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9974916, Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Racial Disparity in Molecular Biomarkers of Alzheimer Disease (1R01AG067505-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9974916. Licensed CC0.

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