Alzheimer's Disease & CAA
Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy
Apart from the parenchymal accumulation of amyloid beta, this same peptide also frequently aggregated in the walls of small brain arterioles, named cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA causes vascular dysfunction which independently contributes to cognitive decline. The vessel wall weakens due to the amyloid accumulation, resulting in microbleeds and clinical strokes, which are often fatal. At LUMC, we are particularly focusing on this vascular amyloid accumulation because CAA is not just a disease of old age, but also occurs in a severe hereditary form. This disease, hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy – Dutch type (HCHWA-D), commonly known as Katwijk Disease is geographically and historically linked to LUMC and forms a particular research focus of our lab.
…Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy
Apart from the parenchymal accumulation of amyloid beta, this same peptide also frequently aggregated in the walls of small brain arterioles, named cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA causes vascular dysfunction which independently contributes to cognitive decline. The vessel wall weakens due to the amyloid accumulation, resulting in microbleeds and clinical strokes, which are often fatal. At LUMC, we are particularly focusing on this vascular amyloid accumulation because CAA is not just a disease of old age, but also occurs in a severe hereditary form. This disease, hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy – Dutch type (HCHWA-D), commonly known as Katwijk Disease is geographically and historically linked to LUMC and forms a particular research focus of our lab.
Our research program consists of two parts:
- Development of in vivo imaging techniques to detect amyloid aggregates in disease models and ultimately in humans.
- Development of potential therapies for CAA (and AD).
Projects
Research consortia and collaborations
We are currently collaborating in several national and EU programs. CVON-HBC (cardiovascular onderzoek Nederland) is a large consortium focusing on the relation between (cardio)vascular pathology and cognition together with AMC. PAGE-AD, a Memorabel program focussing on high field MRI and pathological differentiation between conventional and parietal lobe AD, together with VUMC and the Netherlands Brain Bank. Bioimage-NMD is an EU consortium focused on advanced diffusion imaging techniques in muscle pathology.
Key publications
Our team
Dr.ir. Louise van der Weerd
Principal investigator / Associate Professor
Prof.dr. Willeke M.C. van Roon-Mom
Principal investigator / Professor Translational Studies of Neurodegenerative
Ernst Suidgeest (RADI)
Research technician
Boyd Kenkhuis (RADI)
Researcher
Sanny Scheffer (RADI)
Researcher
Whitney M. Freeze (RADI)
Researcher
Sabine Voigt (NEURO)
PhD student