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Two new LIGA papers on the role of microRNAs in neurodegeneration

Together with collaborators at Imperial College London, our team systematically searched for microRNAs that show differential expression across all published expression studies in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). To reach this goal the LIGA team revised an established data processing workflow for genetic association results to now accommodate gene expression studies. For both diseases we identified several microRNAs that showed highly significant differential expression in blood, cerebral spinal fluid, or brains of AD / PD patients vs. controls. Future studies need to assess the possible role of these miRNAs in pathogenesis and progression as well as their utility as biomarkers for diagnosis, progression or prediction of PD. These papers represent first results of the LIGA-led MiRNetAD project funded by the DFG. The AD study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the PD study in Annals of Neurology.