Biofamalz
Development of family biomarkers of cognitive impairment and family stress in Alzheimer’s disease.
Led by Dr. Carlos Spuch, senior researcher at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Galicia Sur. Collaboration between CINBIO UVIGO and AFAGA Alzheimer.
The loss of cognitive levels in patients with this disease is associated with increased stress in primary caregivers. Therefore, this research aims to develop (for the first time) biomarkers in saliva that take into account the relationship between the family and the patient, and that allow to diagnose in a simple and non-invasive way the level of cognitive impairment of the patient and the level of family stress of the caregivers. These biomarkers would allow the development of strategies (quickly by AFAGA) to prevent the deterioration of the patient and their own family in an early, simple and inexpensive way.
Objectives
- The development of a saliva molecular panel that predicts the risk of presenting a need for urgent intervention in the patient-family binomial.
- To develop a saliva molecular biomarker panel for cognitive impairment.
- Develop a panel of saliva molecular biomarkers of therapeutic efficacy in patients undergoing cognitive stimulation.
- To quantify the degree of stress of families with Alzheimer’s patients according to the degree of cognitive impairment.
- To investigate the gender and age perspective in these biomarker panels to obtain specific panels for women and men according to age range.