Genetic profiling of patients with neurodegenerative disease to identify markers for (early) diagnosis and disease progression

Seen the increase in average life expectancy, a dramatic increase in the incidence of age-related neurodegenerative disorders is expected. By the time such a disorder is diagnosed, the brain damage is often extensive, and there may be no hope for treatment that can repair the massive destruction. Effective intervention before overt brain damage, and thus in the early phase of the disease, will be required to optimize patient outcomes. It is therefore important to know which are the causal mechanisms , and to find markers for (early) diagnosis, and disease progression. We will use high throughput genotyping to find additional genes implicated in disease pathogenesis, and specific for disease subtypes. We will integrate this genetic information with expression and epigenetic data from the same individuals, in the hope to find the (regulatory) networks defining disease stages and subgroups of patients, and to get unique insights in the biological mechanisms of the disease.

Keywords:Genetic profiling, patients, neurodegenerative disease, markers, disease progression, early diagnosis

Disciplines:Genetics, Systems biology, Molecular and cell biology