Project description:Microarray analysis of peripheral blood monocytes from patients with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment and healthy individuals
Project description:With the aging population, there is a growing focus on dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The molecular basis underlying the pathogenesis of AD is gradually being elucidated. Increasing evidence has shown that the immunological function of leukocytes plays a crucial role in the development of neurodegenerative disorders. However, there have been few studies among the Taiwanese population. The aim of this study was to investigate potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease from blood leukocytes. Experiment Overall Design: The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) transcriptomes from 5 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 4 AD, as well as 4 normal controls (NC), were analyzed by microarray analysis.
Project description:Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered an early stage leading to dementia. MCI can be reversed, and early diagnosis at the MCI stage is vital to control the progression to dementia. Dementia is currently diagnosed based on interviews and screening tests. However, novel biomarkers must be identified to enable early detection of MCI. Therefore, this study aimed to discover novel biomarkers in the form of blood microRNAs (miRNAs) for the diagnosis of MCI or early dementia.
Project description:Using WGCNA and enrichment analyses to identify pathway level differences between individuals with no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. Frozen frontal cortex (BA10) tissue from NCI, MCI, and mild/moderate AD cases (n = 12/group) representing both genders was acquired postmortem from participants in the Rush Religious Orders Study, a longitudinal clinical pathologic study of aging and AD in elderly Catholic clergy
Project description:Growing evidence implicates transposable elements (TEs) in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To evaluate potential transcriptional and epigenetic differences related to TE expression in this context, we generated whole blood total RNA-seq, and peripheral blood cell whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), and transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) on samples from healthy middle-aged/older adults, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD patients.
Project description:Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder with no cure and few treatment options. In early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, impaired metabolism and functional connectivity of the retrosplenial cortex strongly predict future cognitive impairments. Therefore, understanding Alzheimer’s disease-related deficits in the retrosplenial cortex is critical for understanding the origins of cognitive impairment and identifying early treatment targets. Using the 5xFAD mouse model, we discovered early, sex-dependent alterations in parvalbumin-interneuron transcriptomic profiles. This corresponded with impaired parvalbumin-interneuron activity, which was sufficient to induce cognitive impairments and dysregulate retrosplenial functional connectivity. In fMRI scans from patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, we observed a similar sex-dependent dysregulation of retrosplenial cortex functional connectivity and, in post-mortem tissue from subjects with Alzheimer’s disease, a loss of parvalbumin interneurons. Reversal of cognitive deficits by stimulation of parvalbumin interneurons in the retrosplenial cortex suggests that this may serve as a promising novel therapeutic strategy.
Project description:Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder with no cure and few treatment options. In early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, impaired metabolism and functional connectivity of the retrosplenial cortex strongly predict future cognitive impairments. Therefore, understanding Alzheimer’s disease-related deficits in the retrosplenial cortex is critical for understanding the origins of cognitive impairment and identifying early treatment targets. Using the 5xFAD mouse model, we discovered early, sex-dependent alterations in parvalbumin-interneuron transcriptomic profiles. This corresponded with impaired parvalbumin-interneuron activity, which was sufficient to induce cognitive impairments and dysregulate retrosplenial functional connectivity. In fMRI scans from patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, we observed a similar sex-dependent dysregulation of retrosplenial cortex functional connectivity and, in post-mortem tissue from subjects with Alzheimer’s disease, a loss of parvalbumin interneurons. Reversal of cognitive deficits by stimulation of parvalbumin interneurons in the retrosplenial cortex suggests that this may serve as a promising novel therapeutic strategy.
Project description:Genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation in blood leukocytes from Chinese patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array (850K chip) was used to detect DNA methylation profiles throughout approximately 850,000 CpG sites in peripheral blood white cells of MCI- and AD-affected Chinese patients, as well as cognitively healthy controls. All samples included 20 Chinese patients with MCI, 20 Chinese patients with AD, and 20 cognitively healthy controls.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) could play an important role as potential Alzheimer Disease (AD) biomarkers. Plasma samples were collected from participants: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD patients (n= 20), preclinical AD patients (n= 8) and healthy controls (n= 20). Then, small RNA sequencing analysis, followed by miRNA differential expression analysis comparing different methods (DESeq2, edgeR, NOISeq) were carried out.