2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Molecular imaging of amyloid-associated depression

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	15H04896
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Psychiatric science
Research Institution	Nippon Medical School
Principal Investigator	Okubo Yoshiro 日本医科大学, 大学院医学研究科, 大学院教授 (20213663)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	鈴木秀典日本医科大学, 大学院医学研究科, 大学院教授 (30221328) 舘野周日本医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (50297917) 肥田道彦日本医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (60434130) 上田諭日本医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (80465294)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	分子イメージング / アミロイドイメージング / タウイメージング / アルツハイマー病 / うつ病 / タウオパチー / ドパミントランスポーター / セロトニン１B受容体
Outline of Final Research Achievements	We aimed to develop a diagnostic method of depression as a precursor symptom of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) using novel molecular imaging techniques. First, we conducted a 20-month follow-up survey on patients with mild cognitive impairment and depression. As a result, it was confirmed that there were more cases of transition to dementia in the amyloid positive group. Next, we introduced tau imaging and confirmed that there were cases with strong tau accumulation among depressive patients. Some of these cases appeared to have depression as a precursor to AD and other tauopathy. Furthermore, we found that mild to moderate decline in dopamine transporter was observed in elderly depression, and introduced serotonin 1B receptor imaging as a novel biomarker of depression.
Free Research Field	精神医学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	アミロイドイメージングに加えて、タウおよびセロトニン、ドパミンイメージングなど新規分子イメージング技術を駆使することによって、アルツハイマー病などの認知症の前駆症状としてのうつ病の早期の病態診断が可能になる。さらに、早期の病態診断が可能になることによって、より有効なうつ病、認知症の予防法、治療法の開発に役立てられる。