Fresthel Monica M. Climacosa
University of the Philippines, Philippines
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J of Neur & Neur
Introduction: In the Philippines, it has been estimated that 10.6% of individuals aged 60 years and above have dementia, with 85.5% eventually being diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recommended drugs approved for dementia include acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors, like rivastigmine, donepezil, and galantamine, that is prescribed as monotherapy or combined with memantine for moderate and severe AD. There is currently no available study demonstrating the clinical effects of these drugs for AD in the Filipino population. This study aims to characterize the clinical, genetic, microbial, and metabolomic factors associated with drug response to an AChE inhibitor (donepezil) alone or in combination with an NMDA receptor antagonist (memantine) for Filipinos with late-onset AD. Methods and analysis: This is a multisite, descriptive, prospective cohort study among Filipino patients diagnosed with AD. The study will utilize two study designs: i) a descriptive, cross-sectional study to characterize the clinical profile of Filipino dementia patients with AD and ii) an exploratory prospective cohort study to investigate drug response-related genetic, gut microbiome, and metabolome signatures of a subset of the recruited AD patients. At least 153 patients with dementia aged 65 years old and above will be recruited regardless of their treatment status. A subset of these patients (n = 60) who meet inclusion and exclusion criteria will be included further in the exploratory cohort study. These patients will be grouped according to their baseline medications and will be observed for treatment response for 6 months. The cognitive, functional, and behavioral domains of patients and family functioning will be measured using different assessment tools. Drug responses of Filipino patients will then be investigated employing multiOMICs technology to characterize genetic variations via whole exome sequencing, gut microbiome profile via shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and metabolome profile via liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
Fresthel Climacosa is a highly respected researcher in the field of molecular medicine in the Philippines, with a particular focus on immunology of microbial diseases. She received her Doctor of Medicine – Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Medicine in 2018 from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and was awarded as the Most Outstanding MD-PhD Graduate, garnering the Most Outstanding MD-PhD Dissertation, and an Academic Distinction in Medicine. She has since published numerous articles in various scientific journals and conferences. She is currently an associate professor in the College of Public Health, University of the Philippines Manila while handling several researches as the principal investigator and project consultant. Dr. Climacosa was one of the awardees of the UNCTAD Young Female Scientist Programme last 2022 and is committed to improving health research in the Philippines.
