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Principal Investigator  
Principal Investigator's Name: Ariel Graff
Institution: Universtity of Toronto
Department: Psychiatry
Country:
Proposed Analysis: Depression as predictor of amyloid pathology Our proposed study seeks to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and beta-amyloid load in patients with MCI, ADD and elderly controls. The conclusions derived from our study will provide a better mechanistic understanding of the complex interaction between depression and ADD and will assist in the development of preventive interventions for ADD associated with depression. There is mounting evidence supporting a link between depression and ADD. Lifetime history of depression confers an increased risk for developing ADD and a single episode of late-life depression increases the risk of ADD by 4 to 6 fold. This relationship may reflect an independent risk factor for ADD and depression is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for the disease. Moreover, depressive symptoms are common in patients with dementia and may also occur within the prodrome of dementia. Similarly, depressive symptoms frequently occur in mild cognitive impairment (MCI)—which may represent a transitional state between normal aging and ADD. Depressive symptoms increase the risk of MCI patients developing ADD, when compared to MCI patients without depression. This relationship suggests that depression may be an independent and modifiable risk factor for ADD. Depression is strongly linked with the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders, such as elevated levels of stress hormones, reduced neuronal growth factors and reduced hippocampal volume. In addition, ADD patients with a lifetime history of depression have higher hippocampal deposits of beta-amyloid than ADD patients without a history of depression. Brain beta-amyloid is a key pathologic underpinning of ADD. Patients with MCI and high beta amyloid in the brain are more likely to develop ADD. Moreover, beta-amyloid accumulation has been correlated with mood symptoms in non-demented middle age and older individuals. Limited data is available that explores the relationship between beta-amyloid and depression within normal subjects, MCI and ADD patients.
Additional Investigators  
Investigator's Name: Nathan Chan
Proposed Analysis: Explore vascular contribution on MCI-Depression