NIFD & 4RTNI
RESEARCH STUDIES
Kimiko Domoto-Reilly, MD
Cognitive / Behavioral Neurology Fellow
Massachusetts General Hospital & Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Background: ADNI
 Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (2004)
 natural history study of early Alzheimer’s disease
 800 subjects from 50 sites across North America
 control subjects and subjects with memory impairment
 6-12 month evaluations over 3 years
 clinical / cognitive assessments
 brain scans: MRI, PET
 biofluid collection: blood, urine, CSF
 funded by National Institute on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Association,
and multiple drug companies
Background: ADNI
 freely shared data repository
 many new insights into Alzheimer’s disease
 European-ADNI (2006); Japanese-ADNI (2006);
ADNI-GO (2010); ADNI II (2011); Parkinson’s Progression
Markers Initiative
NIFD: Overview
 Neuroimaging in Frontotemporal Dementia
 natural history study of early FTD
 215 subjects from 3 sites (UCSF, Mayo, MGH)
 140 FTD subjects, 75 control subjects
 here at MGH: 25 FTD subjects
 6 month evaluations over 1.5 years
 clinical / cognitive assessments
 brain scans: MRI (and PET at other sites)
 biofluid collection: blood, urine, CSF
NIFD: Enrollment
 eligibility
 diagnosis of bvFTD, PNFA, or SD
 fluent in English
 45-90 years old
 study partner
 able to undergo multiple MRIs and 2 LPs
NIFD: Schedule
Month
0
6
12
18
clinical & cognitive
assessments
X
X
X
X
informant
questionnaires
X
X
X
X
MRI
X
X
X
X
CSF, blood, urine
X
X
NIFD: Goals
 goals
 to collect multimodal data (cognitive/behavioral,




imaging, biofluids) in a standardized fashion
to contribute to a shared database
to learn more about the natural history of FTD
to learn more about new imaging techniques and
biofluid measurements
to learn about which information is best for diagnosis,
prognosis, and monitoring
 data collection funded by National Institute on Aging / National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIA-NINDS)
4RTNI: 2012?
 4R-Tau Neuroimaging Initiative
 design parallels ADNI and NIFD
 natural history study
 imaging and biofluid collection
 Tau-based diseases
 corticobasal degeneration (CBD)
 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
 study funded by an anonymous grant from a family of a patient cared for at UCSF