On Apr. 6, 2020, the first published data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (A4) study supports the hypothesis that higher levels of the amyloid protein in the brain represent an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease.

Results of an analysis of participant screening data for the study, published in JAMA Neurology, also show that amyloid burden in clinically normal older adults is associated with a family history of disease, lower cognitive test scores, and reports of declines in daily cognitive function. Major funding was provided by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health; all data is freely available to the broader research community.

With completion expected in late 2022, the A4 study is an ongoing prevention trial launched in 2014 to test whether the drug solanezumab, a monoclonal antibody, could slow cognitive decline associated with elevated brain amyloid if started before clinical symptoms appear. Amyloid, long considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, has been the target of therapies in clinical trials in people who already show symptoms of the disease.

On Apr. 6, 2020, the first published data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (A4) study supports the hypothesis that higher levels of the amyloid protein in the brain represent an early stage of Alzheimer’s disease.

Results of an analysis of participant screening data for the study, published in JAMA Neurology, also show that amyloid burden in clinically normal older adults is associated with a family history of disease, lower cognitive test scores, and reports of declines in daily cognitive function. Major funding was provided by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health; all data is now freely available to the broader research community.

With completion expected in late 2022, the A4 study is an ongoing prevention trial launched in 2014 to test whether the drug solanezumab, a monoclonal antibody, could slow cognitive decline associated with elevated brain amyloid if started before clinical symptoms appear. Amyloid, long considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, has been the target of therapies in clinical trials in people who already show symptoms of the disease.

Writing for the A4 study team, lead author Reisa A. Sperling, M.D., at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, noted in the paper that the screening data of all 4,486 participants who had PET imaging is now available to the research community. This new data will help improve efficiency of screening and enrollment of other trials designed to prevent Alzheimer’s in people without symptoms.