Insulin resistance is a condition where the hormone insulin is not effectively used by the body. This in turn causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood and puts individuals at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes. Previous research has shown that insulin resistance may be related to dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease; however, the linkage between insulin resistance and the underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease is not clear. The Alzheimer’s Association has just given assistant scientist Gilda Ennis, PhD, a grant to investigate whether insulin resistance is related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and the degeneration of nerve cells. She received $174,788 that will be distributed over a 3-year period.
Ennis is an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past two years, she has worked for the Bendlin Lab in the Department of Medicine Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology. She received her PhD in psychology and postdoctoral training in cognitive aging. Throughout her training and career, she has been interested in physiology and psychology, specifically examining associations between different hormones and cognitive functioning.
“Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of people and there are many potential predictors of this disease,” Ennis explains when asked why she is excited to do this specific research. “Insulin resistance may or may not be one of these predictors, so there is a necessity to test it.”
This study will use participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) study and the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Clinical Core. The WRAP is one of the world’s largest and longest running studies of individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The Wisconsin ADRC Clinical Core includes a group of nearly 1,000 people with and without memory loss who volunteer for studies designed to investigate factors related to Alzheimer’s disease. Participants from both cohorts are followed over time so researchers can learn about biological, health, and lifestyle factors that may be associated with the disease.
Ennis plans to use data collected from multiple visits and is thankful for the commitment of people within the WRAP and Wisconsin ADRC cohorts who have devoted their time to participate on a biennial or yearly basis. She plans to investigate the relationship of insulin resistance to Alzheimer’s disease pathology (i.e., amyloid plaque and tau tangle burden) and nerve cell degeneration using data from PET scans and protein markers in cerebrospinal fluid.
The findings of Ennis’s study are expected to add to the discussion of new treatment options for those at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. If her study finds that insulin resistance is associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathology, medications and lifestyle interventions that reduce insulin resistance can be meaningfully administered to potentially slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms occur.
Each year, the Alzheimer’s Association International Research Grant Program supports dozens of researchers around the world with the goal of better understanding Alzheimer’s disease, identifying new treatment strategies, improving care for people with dementia, and learning more about brain health and disease prevention. In 2018 alone, the Alzheimer’s Association made its largest investment with grants over $30 million to 131 scientific investigations. The organization is currently investing over $167 million in over 500 projects in 27 countries. Ennis received $174,788 from this association.
Story by Emma Zalog
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