02 Jun 2010

On the front page of today’s New York Times, journalist Pam Belluck lays out the plight of a large set of extended families in Colombia who suffer from eFAD owing to the Paisa mutation in presenilin-1 (Lopera et al., 1997). Belluck traveled to Colombia this past January with ARF adviser Eric Reiman and Pierre Tariot of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. With Francisco Lopera of Antioquia University School of Medicine, Medellín, and ARF Adviser Kenneth Kosik of the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Banner scientists are developing the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (see ARF related news series; Banner Alzheimer’s Institute). The API aims at nothing less than jumpstarting an era of biomarker-supported prevention research with the help of these Colombian families and also with people in the U.S. who are at high imminent risk of AD due to their ApoE status and age. In a sign that prevention trials are shifting from “should do” to “will do,” other academic and industry groups are getting serious about planning them, as well (see upcoming ARF Webinar).—Gabrielle Strobel.