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Over the last 15 years, researchers have made strides in better understanding the development and detection of Alzheimer’s disease — if not in treatments for the disease itself.

Some of these discoveries — such as that brain changes take place years before there are outward signs of Alzheimer’s, and that many genes may play a role in who gets the disease — have come about because of the National Institute on Aging’s long-running Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study.

“We are inching ever closer to finding a way to prevent or stop disease,” said Brigid Reynolds, clinic coordinator and clinical trial nurse practitioner at Georgetown University Medical Center’s Medical Disorders Program.

“[ADNI] has helped us to understand which biomarker occurs first and which biomarker is better for disease progression,” she said, referring to the substances tau and beta amyloid that are now thought to be the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in the brain.

“The purpose of the research is the relationship between clinical symptoms and cognition, imaging, genetic and biomarker tests to better understand the full spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease from its earliest stages,” she said.

Information gleaned from ADNI is then used to design new Alzheimer’s studies. So far, more than 200 scientific papers have been written using research obtained from ADNI, Reynolds said.

What volunteers are needed?

Since 2004, NIA has conducted several versions of the study. It is now looking for participants for ADNI 3, a study that includes brain imaging and tests for biomarkers in three groups of older adults: those who have no signs of memory loss, those with mild cognitive impairment, and those with mild Alzheimer’s disease.

The study is being conducted at 59 sites around the country, including Georgetown University and Howard University in Washington, D.C.

All participants must be 55 to 90 years old. The study is specifically looking for non-white participants in the cognitively normal group, as they already have enough white participants. For the mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s groups, participants can be of any race.

There are a number of factors that can exclude someone from being qualified to participate. These include having a cardiac pacemaker, major depression or bipolar disorder, and being treated with medication for obsessive-compulsive disorder or attention deficit disorder.

Additional disqualifiers include a history of schizophrenia, or alcohol or substance abuse in the last two years. Also, participants cannot be living in a nursing home.

MRI and PET scans

There is no control group for the study, meaning all participants will get the same tests. These include MRI scans and positron emission tomography, or PET, scans that measure amyloid and tau in the brain, as well as blood tests, genetic tests and a spinal tap. These tests will be completed over a period of two to three months.

The difference between the groups is how often each will be followed. In those without memory loss, participants will return to the medical center every other year for up to five years to have the tests repeated. During the years they don’t have tests, they will have a follow-up phone call.

Those with mild cognitive impairment will come in every year for up to five years for testing. And those who have Alzheimer’s will come in every year for three years, and then will have follow-up phone calls for two more years.

All costs of tests are covered. Additionally, participants will receive $100 for each study visit, as well as $100 for each spinal tap and tau PET scan.

For more information about the study at Georgetown University, contact Jessica Mallory at (202) 687-3355 or jp1715@georgetown.edu.

Information about the study location at Howard University is available from Saba Wolday at (202) 865-7895 or swolday@howard.edu.