Huntington Potter
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Alzheimer's disease (AD) drugs that target amyloid-beta, the protein that forms plaques in the brain, have worked well in mice but disappointed in people. These drugs have also caused serious side effects, including amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIAs), which are swelling or bleeding visible on brain scans.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Neuroscience
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
dementia
granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2026
What they work on
- Assess the long-term safety and tolerability of 24 weeks of sargramostim, a recombinant form of the immune-stimulating protein GM-CSF, in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 42 people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.
- Measure the effects of sargramostim on cognition and activities of daily living in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's participants, compared with placebo, during 24 weeks of treatment and a 45-day follow-up.
- Track changes in biomarkers associated with sargramostim treatment in Alzheimer's participants, as exploratory endpoints of the double-blind Phase II trial.
More about the research
This project tests a different idea. People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an inflammatory disease, are less likely to develop AD, and this is not explained by their use of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Why it matters
People with Alzheimer's disease need treatments that are both safe and effective. Sargramostim is already FDA-approved and has a long safety record. If longer treatment proves safe and slows cognitive decline, it could offer patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's an immune-based option that avoids the brain-scan abnormalities seen with amyloid-targeting drugs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Stacey Lynn Clardy
University of Utah, UT·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether adding inebilizumab, an antibody drug that removes B cells and antibody-making plasma cells, to first-line therapy is safe and reduces motor disability at 16 weeks in 116 randomized patients with NMDAR encephalitis.
Jorge Llibre-Guerra
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Identify clinical, genetic and proteomic predictors of ARIA risk in patients receiving amyloid-targeted treatments, using the DIAN-TU trial cohort and the real-world Memory Diagnostic Clinic cohort.
Barbara Snider
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether 6 months of suvorexant, a sleep drug that blocks wake-promoting orexin signals, lowers the ratio of phosphorylated to unmodified tau-181 in spinal fluid of cognitively normal, amyloid-positive older adults with insomnia, compared with placebo.
The school
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus: 41 labs on PI Pages, $766M a year on research, 205 research doctorates a year.
More about University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus
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