Researchers from Emory University recently received two separate grants, totaling $15 million, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to lead a first-of-its-kind, multifaceted study into why specific types of air pollution increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Previous studies have linked Alzheimer's disease and related dementias to air pollution—specifically exposure to fine particulate matter <2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), a common class of particles and gases—but it is not known how specific concentrations of this mixture of toxins impact the brain.
The researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health and Emory School of Medicine are partnering with investigators from The University of California, Davis; The University of British Columbia; and Georgia Institute of Technology to gain a more nuanced understanding of why and how specific toxic components in air pollution increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Download imageRollins researchers Anke Huels, PhD and Donghai Liang, PhD are studying why and how specific toxic components in air pollution increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Emory photo by Jack Kearse
For the first time, the study is measuring the components of PM2.5 particles in the blood and cerebral spinal fluid of a diverse range of study participants from the Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, including both cognitively healthy adults and adults with a previous dementia diagnosis. They will also measure PM2.5 in brain tissue samples from the center's brain bank.
"Changes in the early biomarkers of cognitive function can be seen more than a decade before someone develops Alzheimer's disease," says Anke Huels, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and principal investigator of the two NIH awards. "By measuring the biological response to air pollution, we have a really unique opportunity to find out what is causing the effects of PM2.5on Alzheimer's disease risk. This could give us a better understanding of why some people develop Alzheimer's disease and others do not, but also identify potential intervention and prevention strategies to make a difference on a policy level."
As part of this effort, the researchers are developing improved air pollution models to measure PM2.5components in the Atlanta area and assign air pollution estimates to the study participants based on their address. They are conducting metabolomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and genomics analyses to better understand the biological response to air pollution.
"We are using cutting-edge methods to unravel the thousands of environmental chemicals that exist in PM2.5 and assess their individual and joint effects on our brain health," says Donghai Liang, PhD, associate professor of environmental health and principal investigator of the two NIH awards. "And in the future, other scientists will have a much better understanding of the toxic components of PM2.5that are responsible for an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."
