Project Grant R21AG083593

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 Aging Research) to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York provides $452,375 to investigate the potential use of the APLP1 protein as an early biomarker for Alzheimer's disease in individuals with Down syndrome.

The project aims to leverage recent findings linking endosomal trafficking defects to the early pathology of Alzheimer's disease, which is observed decades before classical Alzheimer's neuropathology develops in people with Down syndrome. By validating the APLP1 protein fragment as a cerebrospinal fluid-based biomarker of these early endosomal dysfunction changes, the research could support the development of novel therapeutic approaches targeting the underlying cell biology of Alzheimer's disease in this high-risk population. Successful completion of this 2-year study would provide initial evidence for using APLP1 as a biomarker to detect and track Alzheimer's disease progression in individuals with Down syndrome.