Alzheimer’s Disease is a prevalent devastating neuropsychiatric disorder of late-life. Early identification is critical in order for targeted early intervention. This study aims to leverage the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Database (ADNI) to identify interactions among specific genes within a pathway and the effects of those interactions on at-risk brain regions in people who may go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Single gene studies are not powerful enough to provide strong prediction of brain changes prior to clinical disease onset, and it is possible that the identification of epistatic risk among genes may provide an improved prediction of brain risk for AD.
Supported by the Effects of Gene-Gene Interactions within an Early Risk Pathway for Alzheimer’s Disease on Established and Novel MRI-Based Phenotypes grant. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Catalyst Grant: Secondary Analysis of Neuroimaging Databases. Collaborator(s): Chakravarty, MM., Knight, J., Duchesne, S.