The COGENT Study (version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Causes of cognitive and behavioural change in neurodegeneration and dementia
IRAS ID
159576
Contact name
Michael Hornberger
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University and Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
609/M/C/1214, Provisional Insurance
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
On clinical presentation, various types of neurodegenerative conditions and dementia are often indistinguishable, cognitively and behaviourally. The clinical and pathological features of these diseases can overlap, which creates several difficulties in the understanding of disease and in the progression towards better therapies. For example, if several distinct pathologies cause memory loss, it becomes difficult to identify the patients’ specific disease at the earliest time point after symptoms begin, which in turn hinders the use of disease modifying therapies and through diagnostic uncertainty, may also exacerbate the distress of patients and their families.
The proposed study will aim to compare and contrast the cognitive and behavioural changes in various neurodegenerative conditions and dementias, and to relate cognitive and behavioural changes to alteration in brain structures and function, and peripheral blood biomarkers. We will do this by administering novel clinical tests, that tap into the dysfunction of each region, as well as using state-of-the-art imaging network analyses.
Over three years we will invite patients with various neurodegenerative diseases and dementias, from multiple specialists and research networks, to participate in further assessments and brain imaging. By doing so, we will confirm the specificity of these brain regions to various neurodegenerative conditions and dementias, and further explore the contributions of these regions to the clinical presentation and pilot novel specific clinical and cognitive biomarkers for these regions.
Overall, these findings will greatly improve the diagnostic accuracy of neurodegenerative conditions and dementias, even at a very early stage, which in turn will increase the efficacy of novel upcoming disease modifying therapies.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/2045
Date of REC Opinion
18 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion