Medace will take part in the AT-BRAIN consortium, which aims to identify new therapeutic targets for cognitive decline. Next to that it focuses on developing novel biomarkers for obesity-linked risks for the development Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This project aims for a better risk stratification and personalized treatment of AD.
Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia
Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of Dementia. Persons with dementia are faced with an increasing loss of cognitive skills. This has a great impact not only on the life of the person with dementia but also on their family members and loved ones. A person with dementia increasingly needs support and guidance, even though he or she may still be physically able to do a great deal.
Dementia is expected to become the most important cause of death in The Netherlands by the year 2040.*
Obesity and Alzheimer’s Disease
Obesity is linked to a higher susceptibility to cognitive decline and AD, but the mechanistic link between the two is still unknown. In obesity, the expanding adipose tissue (AT) develops into a pro-inflammatory environment; with significant proportion of AT-resident immune cells, consisting of T-cells. New research on AT-resident T-cells identified pro-inflammatory effector-memory Th-cells, in obese AT that are similar to Th-cells found in AD patients’ blood and brain. It is to be determined if AT-imprinted Th-cells interfere with AD development in obese individuals.
AT-BRAIN consortium
As mentioned in the introduction the AT-BRAIN (full: adipose tissue – brain axis as an inflammatory link between obesity and cerebromicrovascular damage) consortium will investigate the mechanisms underlying the inflammatory processes of obesity-related cognitive decline in AD. Ultimately with the aim to identify and clinically investigate new therapeutic targets for cognitive decline and developing novel biomarkers for obesity-linked risk for AD development.
This unique collaboration consists of academia and industry partners: Maastricht University, UHasselt, DeepLife , Sciomics – Enabling Precision Medicine, Treeway and Medace. Medace will focus on the quality and regulatory aspects of this trajectory.
We look forward to working with Kristiaan Wouters, associate professor and Tim Vanmierlo Assistant Professor at Maastricht University and professor Bieke Broux at Hasselt university and the rest of the team.
