DIAMIR, LLC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NIA

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant A number of academic groups and life sciences companies are developing and testing approaches to delay aging the most significant risk factor for the vast majority of serious human diseases Critical for these efforts is the development and validation of minimally invasive cost effective biomarkers of aging DiamiR a molecular diagnostics company has developed proprietary platform technology for early detection and moni toring of pathophysiological processes in different organs based on analysis of organ enriched microRNA miRNA pairs in plasma In this SBIR Phase I we propose to use the technology to select effective biomarkers of brain aging Brain aging is characterized by neurite and synapse dysfunction and loss and neuronal death A hypothesis being tested in the current proposal is that these processes can be detected in vitro by quantitative RT qPCR analysis of brain enriched and inflammation associated miRNAs circulating in the blood miRNAs enriched in different brain regions hippocampus midbrain cerebellum cortex pituitary gland and present in neurites and synapses and several inflammation associated miRNAs will be tested as biomarker candidates Our previous studies on brain health produced highly promising results biomarker miRNA pairs selected among brain enriched miRNAs circulating in plasma were found to detect Mild Cognitive Impairment MCI with up to accuracy predict progression from normal cognition to MCI with accuracy years prior to clinical diagnosis and differentiate Alzheimerandapos s and Parkinsonandapos s diseases from age matched control and from each other with accuracy andgt In the preliminary study on aging several brain enriched miRNAs were found to differentiate cognitively normal subjects of two age groups with p andlt to p andlt The current study will be performed using plasma samples prospectively collected at the New York Blood Center Specific aims include assessing feasibility of the approach and selecting miRNA biomarker pairs effectively differentiating younger year old from older year old healthy subjects samples per group and using sets of miRNA biomarker pairs selected in Aim to evaluate age related dynamics and gender dependent differences in plasma samples collected from to year old healthy subjects samples in total In Phase II DiamiR will assemble a knowledgebase by conducting studies with plasma samples collected from to year old subjects Further miRNAs enriched in other than brain organs will be tested as biomarkers of aging of these organs The generated data will be used to determine age dependent ranges of concentrations of miRNA biomarker pairs defining normal aging The long term goal of the project is to develop sensitive minimally invasive molecular assays for evaluation and monitoring of aging in the brain and other organs The assays will be developed as in vitro diagnostics IVD and used for monitoring of aging for assessment of therapeutic regimens and life style changes aimed at delaying or reversing normal aging and for early detection of anomalies characteristic of aging associated diseases PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Aging is the most significant risk factor for the vast majority of serious human diseases Critical for the efforts to delay aging and increase longevity is the development of effective biomarkers of aging Building on its prior success in studies on brain health biomarkers in this SBIR DiamiR is developing an assay for monitoring brain aging based on quantitative analysis of brain enriched and inflammation associated microRNAs in plasma