Summary

• Study director: Bruce Miller, MD [1] and Fen-Biao Gao, PhD [2]
• Sponsor: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
• Recruiting?: Yes
• Official study title: Establishment of Frontotemporal Dementia Patient Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell Lines
• Conditions studied: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) [3], Alzheimer's disease (AD) [4] and other closely related neurological disorders including corticobasal degeneration (CBD) [5], progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) [6] and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with dementia [7]
• Purpose: The purpose of this study is to study the disease-causing mechanisms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and create models to study neurological diseases for which there are not adequate human in vitro or animal models.

Eligibility

• Inclusion criteria: Participants must have a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) [8] and a known or potential genetic alteration causing the disease. Patients with other closely related neurological disorders, healthy unaffected relatives and other healthy controls may also be included.
• Exclusion criteria: Subjects carrying infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, HCV, HBV, syphilis) will be excluded for laboratory safety reasons. Subjects with known wound-healing problems will be excluded.

What is involved?

• Testing: A skin biopsy and virus testing for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis
• Frequency of visits: One visit
• Materials needed prior to evaluation: None
• Costs: No costs will be charged for any of the study procedures. Parking will be validated for Millberry Parking Garage for study visit. Participants are responsible for their travel and hotel, should they choose to stay in one.

Contact information

• Coordinators:
  Anna Karydas [9], 415-476-3377, Study Coordinator
  Tricia See [10], 415-476-8613, Genetic Counselor