Page 77 - Annual Report 2018

4. THE VALLECAS PROJECT

ropsychological profile is completed by getting in- genetic and biochemical markers. Samples are ob-
formation related to other cognitive domains such tained according to the protocol "Collection and
as language, visuospatial ability and visuoconstruc- Processing of Human Blood Samples in the Vallecas
tion. All these data allow identifying the strengths Project" and processed to obtain the various frac-
and weaknesses in the cognitive profile and cha- tions indicated in the protocol, which are stored at -
racterizing, if necessary, the type of cognitive im- 80°C. On one hand, DNA is extracted from blood
pairment that an individual presents. Table XXX cells to determine, by PCR and sequencing techni-
below lists the different tests that make up the neu- ques, genetic markers associated with the various
ropsychological battery of the Vallecas Project, as polymorphisms in the following genes: APOE, CR1,
well as the visit number in which they have been ap- BIN1, CLU, PICALM, ABCA7, SORL1, PRNP, GRM8, and
plied to all study participants. BACE1. These genes are studied using DNA obtained
from the extraction of samples from the first visit.
4.3.6. Determination of biomarkers
Also, in the context of the project funded by the MI-
It is currently widely accepted that the molecular NECO (Projects RETOS) entitled "miRNA and lipid me-
changes associated with AD, including the forma- tabolism markers as potential links between vascular
tion of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles dysfunction and Alzheimer's pathophysiology", and
begin many years before the appearance of clini- whose main researchers are Drs. Miguel Medina and
cal symptoms. In recent years, the need to define Miguel Calero, in collaboration with the group of Dr.
and develop new early biomarkers of AD that allow Tobias Engel (Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ire-
us to assess the risk and early diagnosis of the disease land) plasma-derived microRNAs are being analy-
has become clear. Thus, blood samples will be co- zed as potential biomarkers, as well as molecules
llected within the Vallecas Project for the study of related to vascular dysfunction, lipid metabolism

CIEN Foundation Annual Report 2018 / 77