Enteric Nervous System in Alzheimer Disease (ENTEROMA)

July 21, 2016 updated by: Nantes University Hospital

The close homology between the central and enteric nervous systems suggests that a disease process affecting the central nervous system could also involve its enteric counterpart. The investigators have recently shown in that the enteric neurons can be readily analyzed using routine colonic biopsies. This led us to propose that the enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with a neurodegenerative disorder. The investigators have already used this approach to show that Parkinson's disease pathology was recapitulated in a single colonic biopsy. By contrast to Parkinson's disease, the detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in the enteric neurons has so far failed. This may be due to the low number of human tissue samples in addition to the low sensitivity of the immunohistochemical methods that were used. The aim of the current research project will be therefore to reevaluate AD pathology in a large number of human colonic samples using both a morphological and biochemical approach .

The enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with AD. This might open the way to the development of novel AD biomarkers that will directly assess the neuropathological process.

Main Aim : To Analyze the presence of beta-amyloid pathology in the enteric nervous system (ENS) in AD patients

Secondary Aim(s):

  1. To analyze and describe the presence of tau in the enteric nervous system (ENS) in AD patients
  2. To assess neuronal loss in submucosal tissue in AD patients.
  3. To examine Glia cells in the enteric nervous system in AD patients..

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

55

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

50 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- AD group : Patient with early to moderate Alzheimer disease (continuum of patients with MCI due to AD and patients diagnosed with probable AD) according to NIA NAA criteria MMSE score ≥18; Has one informant or care partner; No parkinsonian syndrome No sign of lewy Body dementia

- PD group (control group 1) : Patients with Parkinson Disease according UKPDSBB criteria, No dementia sign or cognitive deficit associated to AD

- PSP group (control group 2): Patients with possible or probable Progressive supranuclear palsy group PSP according to NINDS criteria Has one informant or care partner;

- Patient eligible for colorectal cancer screening (control group 3) : No history or current neurological/degenerative condition (e.g, lewy body dementia, PD, Parkinsonian syndrome, AD…) No memory complaint with a Mac Nair score ≤15 MMSE score ≥28 ; Patient at risk of colic cancer with a colonoscopy scheduled

Exclusion Criteria:

- For all groups: History of colonic disorder (e.g inflammatory condition, adenocarcinoma) History of bleeding disorder Traitement anticoagulant ou antiagrégant en cours Treatment with anticoagulant or Platelet aggregation inhibiting drugs

- Patient with AD, PSP, PD: Any neurological/neurodegenerative condition different from the group to which it belongs (e.g other than AD for AD group or other than PD for PD group….)

- Patient eligible for colorectal cancer screening Any neurological/neurodegenerative condition (e.g lewy body dementia, Parkinsonian syndrome, PD, AD..)..

Functional colopathy or Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: AD group
AD group: rectosigmoidospcopy with biopsies of colon
Rectosigmoidoscopy with colonic biopsies performed for Alzheimer patient and both control groups Parkinson and PSP
Other: PD group
PD group: rectosigmoidospcopy with biopsies of colon
Rectosigmoidoscopy with colonic biopsies performed for Alzheimer patient and both control groups Parkinson and PSP
Other: PSP group
PSP group: rectosigmoidospcopy with biopsies of colon
Rectosigmoidoscopy with colonic biopsies performed for Alzheimer patient and both control groups Parkinson and PSP
Other: Patient eligible for colorectal cancer screening
Patient eligible for colorectal cancer screening: colonoscopy with biopsies of colon
Colonoscopy with colonic biopsies performed only in patient at risk of colic cancer

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Presence of alpha-synuclein aggregates in colonic biopsies using immunohistochemistry
Time Frame: 4 months
Alpha synuclein will be analysed by means of immunohistochemistry in colonic biopsy of patients with Alzheimer disease contrasted to patients with Parkinson disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and to patients eligible for colorectal cancer screening, as a possible biomarker of AD mirroring the cerebral anomaly.
4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2019

Study Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 19, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 21, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

July 22, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 22, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 21, 2016

Last Verified

July 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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