This Study Consists of Two Study Parts Conducted Under a Single IRB. Part I: Short Term ApoE-dependent Cerebral Blood Flow Response to Sirolimus in Cognitively Normal Adults Part II: Short Term ApoE-dependent Cerebral Blood Flow and Lung Perfusion Response to Sirolimus in Cognitively Normal Adults

Summary

This study consists of two study parts (Part I and Part II) conducted under a single IRB approval. Individuals that participated in Part I of the study were invited to participate in Part II of the study. Alzheimer's disease is a devastating neurodegenerative disease characterized by accumulation of clumps (also called plaques) and bundles of fibers (also called tangles) in the brain, for which there is currently no cure. Sirolimus is an FDA-approved medication which may improve the blood flow to the brain. Part I: This study is designed to see if sirolimus treatment improves MRI blood flow to the brain in individuals with and without a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. Part I of this study is complete and no longer enrolling participants. Part II: Ongoing research will expand the genetic predisposition cohort and further explore the drug's impact on the lung perfusion via hyperpolarized xenon-129 gas MRI and the brain-vascular connection. Only subjects who are APOE4 carriers will be enrolled in Part II. Hyperpolarized xenon-129 gas MRI is a non-invasive technique in which a subject inhales a bolus of hyperpolarized xenon-129 gas which can be directly imaged by the MRI as it physiologically distributes itself throughout the lung interior and within tissue and red blood cells. It thus allows for direct imaging and quantification of regional lung function: ventilation, gas-exchange, and perfusion. The relationship between pulmonary vascular function and brain perfusion is largely unstudied. We hope to investigate the relationship between pulmonary vascular function and cerebral blood flow by quantifying both lung and brain perfusion before and after the administration of Sirolimus.

Timeline

Start

2023-03-02

Primary completion

2025-09-19

Completion

2027-12

Publications

• Background Trzepacz PT, Hochstetler H, Wang S, Walker B, Saykin AJ; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Relationship between the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-mental State Examination for assessment of mild cognitive impairment in older adults. BMC Geriatr. 2015 Sep 7;15:107. doi: 10.1186/s12877-015-0103-3.
• Background O'Bryant SE, Waring SC, Cullum CM, Hall J, Lacritz L, Massman PJ, Lupo PJ, Reisch JS, Doody R; Texas Alzheimer's Research Consortium. Staging dementia using Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes scores: a Texas Alzheimer's research consortium study. Arch Neurol. 2008 Aug;65(8):1091-5. doi: 10.1001/archneur.65.8.1091.
• Background Lynch T, Price A. The effect of cytochrome P450 metabolism on drug response, interactions, and adverse effects. Am Fam Physician. 2007 Aug 1;76(3):391-6.
• Background Kraig E, Linehan LA, Liang H, Romo TQ, Liu Q, Wu Y, Benavides AD, Curiel TJ, Javors MA, Musi N, Chiodo L, Koek W, Gelfond JAL, Kellogg DL Jr. A randomized control trial to establish the feasibility and safety of rapamycin treatment in an older human cohort: Immunological, physical performance, and cognitive effects. Exp Gerontol. 2018 May;105:53-69. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2017.12.026. Epub 2018 Feb 3.
• Background Ozcelik S, Fraser G, Castets P, Schaeffer V, Skachokova Z, Breu K, Clavaguera F, Sinnreich M, Kappos L, Goedert M, Tolnay M, Winkler DT. Rapamycin attenuates the progression of tau pathology in P301S tau transgenic mice. PLoS One. 2013 May 7;8(5):e62459. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062459. Print 2013.
• Background Spilman P, Podlutskaya N, Hart MJ, Debnath J, Gorostiza O, Bredesen D, Richardson A, Strong R, Galvan V. Inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin abolishes cognitive deficits and reduces amyloid-beta levels in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. PLoS One. 2010 Apr 1;5(4):e9979. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009979.
• Background Ross C, Salmon A, Strong R, Fernandez E, Javors M, Richardson A, Tardif S. Metabolic consequences of long-term rapamycin exposure on common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus). Aging (Albany NY). 2015 Nov;7(11):964-73. doi: 10.18632/aging.100843.
• Background Tardif S, Ross C, Bergman P, Fernandez E, Javors M, Salmon A, Spross J, Strong R, Richardson A. Testing efficacy of administration of the antiaging drug rapamycin in a nonhuman primate, the common marmoset. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 May;70(5):577-87. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glu101. Epub 2014 Jul 19.
• Background Sills AM, Artavia JM, DeRosa BD, Ross CN, Salmon AB. Long-term treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin has minor effect on clinical laboratory markers in middle-aged marmosets. Am J Primatol. 2019 Feb;81(2):e22927. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22927. Epub 2018 Oct 12.
• Background Lelegren M, Liu Y, Ross C, Tardif S, Salmon AB. Pharmaceutical inhibition of mTOR in the common marmoset: effect of rapamycin on regulators of proteostasis in a non-human primate. Pathobiol Aging Age Relat Dis. 2016 Jun 23;6:31793. doi: 10.3402/pba.v6.31793. eCollection 2016.
• Background Lin AL, Parikh I, Yanckello LM, White RS, Hartz AMS, Taylor CE, McCulloch SD, Thalman SW, Xia M, McCarty K, Ubele M, Head E, Hyder F, Sanganahalli BG. APOE genotype-dependent pharmacogenetic responses to rapamycin for preventing Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2020 Jun;139:104834. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2020.104834. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
• Background Lin AL, Jahrling JB, Zhang W, DeRosa N, Bakshi V, Romero P, Galvan V, Richardson A. Rapamycin rescues vascular, metabolic and learning deficits in apolipoprotein E4 transgenic mice with pre-symptomatic Alzheimer's disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2017 Jan;37(1):217-226. doi: 10.1177/0271678X15621575. Epub 2015 Dec 31.
• Background Lin AL, Zheng W, Halloran JJ, Burbank RR, Hussong SA, Hart MJ, Javors M, Shih YY, Muir E, Solano Fonseca R, Strong R, Richardson AG, Lechleiter JD, Fox PT, Galvan V. Chronic rapamycin restores brain vascular integrity and function through NO synthase activation and improves memory in symptomatic mice modeling Alzheimer's disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2013 Sep;33(9):1412-21. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2013.82. Epub 2013 Jun 26.
• Background Mannick JB, Del Giudice G, Lattanzi M, Valiante NM, Praestgaard J, Huang B, Lonetto MA, Maecker HT, Kovarik J, Carson S, Glass DJ, Klickstein LB. mTOR inhibition improves immune function in the elderly. Sci Transl Med. 2014 Dec 24;6(268):268ra179. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3009892.

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