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NCT03880240
Gamma Induction for Alzheimer's Disease
Phase 1, PHASE2 trial testing Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) in Alzheimer Disease in 17 participants. Completed in 30 November 2024.
30 November 2024
Quick facts
| Lead sponsor | Massachusetts General Hospital |
|---|---|
| Phase | Phase 1, PHASE2 |
| Status | Completed |
| Study type | INTERVENTIONAL |
| Allocation | randomized |
| Design | parallel |
| Masking | quadruple |
| Primary purpose | treatment |
| Enrollment | 17 |
| Start date | 5 August 2019 |
| Primary completion | 30 November 2024 |
| Estimated completion | 30 November 2024 |
| Sites | 1 location across United States |
Drugs / interventions tested
- Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS)
- Sham Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation
Conditions studied
- Alzheimer Disease — all drugs for Alzheimer Disease →
- Mild Cognitive Impairment — all drugs for Mild Cognitive Impairment →
Sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Who can join
45 and older, any sex, with Alzheimer Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Sponsor's own description
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque buildup and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) in the brain, as well as widespread neurodegeneration. Amyloid-β and tau are proteins that build up in the brain that may contribute to memory problems. The evidence suggests that both amyloid and tau play a critical role in AD and interventions that reliably and safely decrease the intracerebral burden of amyloid or tau could potentially be of marked clinical importance. Currently, therapeutic options are very limited and while there are pharmacologic interventions that transiently improve cognitive function, there are no treatments that alter disease progression. The purpose of this study is to see if multiple daily sessions of non-invasive brain stimulation can affect brain activity to decrease the amount of amyloid and tau in people with AD as compared to Sham (placebo) stimulation. The type of brain stimulation that will be used is called transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). This study will investigate different doses of tACS (2-4 weeks) and assess safety. The hope is that tACS will decrease the amount of amyloid and tau and improve memory and thinking in people with AD.
Publications & conference data
8 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
-
Toward noninvasive brain stimulation 2.0 in Alzheimer's disease.
Menardi A, Rossi S, Koch G, Hampel H, et al · · 2022 · cited 80× · PMID 34973457 · DOI 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101555 -
Impact of multisession 40Hz tACS on hippocampal perfusion in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Sprugnoli G, Munsch F, Cappon D, Paciorek R, et al · · 2021 · cited 74× · PMID 34930421 · DOI 10.1186/s13195-021-00922-4 -
Modulation of Brain Hyperexcitability: Potential New Therapeutic Approaches in Alzheimer's Disease.
Toniolo S, Sen A, Husain M. · · 2020 · cited 74× · PMID 33297460 · DOI 10.3390/ijms21239318 -
Therapy for Alzheimer's disease: Missing targets and functional markers?
Stoiljkovic M, Horvath TL, Hajós M. · · 2021 · cited 52× · PMID 33711510 · DOI 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101318 -
Audiovisual gamma stimulation for the treatment of neurodegeneration.
Blanco-Duque C, Chan D, Kahn MC, Murdock MH, et al · · 2024 · cited 42× · PMID 38115692 · DOI 10.1111/joim.13755 -
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at gamma frequency: an up-and-coming tool to modify the progression of Alzheimer's Disease.
De Paolis ML, Paoletti I, Zaccone C, Capone F, et al · · 2024 · cited 17× · PMID 38926897 · DOI 10.1186/s40035-024-00423-y -
Personalised, image-guided, noninvasive brain stimulation in gliomas: Rationale, challenges and opportunities.
Sprugnoli G, Rossi S, Rotenberg A, Pascual-Leone A, et al · · 2021 · cited 13× · PMID 34391090 · DOI 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103514 -
Transcranial alternating current stimulation for neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic review of treatment parameters and outcomes.
Gholamali Nezhad F, Martin J, Tassone VK, Swiderski A, et al · · 2024 · cited 7× · PMID 39211537 · DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1419243
Verify or expand the search:
- PubMed search for NCT03880240
- Europe PMC full search
- ASCO Meeting Library
- ESMO Meeting Library
- bioRxiv preprints
- medRxiv preprints
- Google Scholar
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Verify against primary sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
- WHO ICTRP — international registry index
- EU Clinical Trials Register
- Sponsor press releases (Google)
- Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03880240 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
- Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
- Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
- Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Massachusetts General Hospital
- Last refreshed: 11 March 2026
Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03880240.
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