Bay area battles Alzheimer's
By Dr. Michael Mullan
Published September 23, 2006
Thursday was World Alzheimer's Day, so it is a perfect time to reflect on the global effort to fight this terrible disease. The researchers, scientists and staff here at the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota have dedicated their lives to this fight, and we are proud to be doing it right here in the bay area.
Most people do not know that almost half of Florida's 360,000 Alzheimer's sufferers live in the Tampa region. That number, alarmingly, is projected to rise. According to a study in Neurology magazine, the number of Alzheimer's patients in Florida is projected to increase by 64 percent over the next 50 years. The bay area is projected to see a similar 50-year increase, meaning our region will be home to close to 270,000 Alzheimer's sufferers by 2050.
Given this fact, it is only fitting that some of the world's most cutting-edge Alzheimer's research is being done right here in the bay area. This week, the Roskamp Institute was proud to announce a first for Florida-based Alzheimer's research institutes: In partnership with Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, we have begun a series of human clinical studies to test a promising new potential treatment in the struggle against this disease. This marks the first time that a Florida-based Alzheimer's research institute has conducted a human clinical study that is based upon its own original research.
The 18-month study will help determine if the hypertension (high blood pressure) drug Nilvadipine could be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In preclinical studies on mice with Alzheimer's, we found that Nilvadipine decreased the levels in the brain of a protein called amyloid. It is the presence of amyloid in the brain that is believed to cause Alzheimer's. The drug also was found to increase the flow of blood to the brain, which is important because cerebral blood flow decreases dramatically as the disease progresses. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the drug will have the same effect on humans suffering from Alzheimer's as it did in the studies on mice. The pilot study will be a first step in trying to develop a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease, and if successful, could change the direction of other studies of dementia.
While the study itself will be conducted in Ireland, there are several supporting research studies that will be done here in the Tampa Bay area. This means that local residents can play a real and important role not only in our research, but also in the overall global effort to combat Alzheimer's.
To assist in our research, we are looking for volunteers who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, as well as their elder family members or caregivers. Participants will be asked to give a small amount of blood on three occasions over a four-week period. Though no drug will be administered during this local research, this investigation will provide critical data to supplement the data being collected in Ireland. If you are interested in participating in our study, please contact us at (941) 256-8018.
It is fitting that we would mark World Alzheimer's Day with an appeal for research volunteers in the Tampa Bay area to assist in a study being conducted in Dublin. It will take a global effort to fight and defeat Alzheimer's, and we at the Roskamp Institute are proud to play our part.
Dr. Michael Mullan is director of the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota.