Pittsburgh Compound B finds Alzheimer's-associated plaques in symptom-free older adults

In the largest study of its kind, Pittsburgh Compound B, an imaging agent that could facilitate the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, has been used to identify amyloid deposition in the brains of clinically older adults. The findings, published in this month's issue of the Archives of Neurology, could not only shed more light on how the illness progresses, but also open the door to the possibility of prevention strategies, said senior investigator William E. Klunk, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He and study co-author Chester A. Mathis, Ph.D., a Pitt professor of radiology and pharmaceutical sciences, invented the imaging compound, dubbed PiB. It binds to certain forms of amyloid protein plaques that are thought to destroy brain cells and have been... [read full story]