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Proteomics analyses hint to new diagnostic approaches in Alzheimer’s

Today, investigators behind the European Medical Information Framework Alzheimer’s Disease Multimodal Biomarker Discovery (EMIF-AD MDB) project published their first large-scale proteomics study. The study used the “SOMAscan” a high-throughput technology allowing to analyze up to 5,000 proteins simultaneously. In EMIF-AD MDB this was performed in a total of 881 participants split into a discovery and replication group and discovered a panel of 44 proteins which, along with age and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4, predicted brain amyloid deposition with good performance in both groups.  Furthermore, a causal relationship between amyloid and tau was confirmed by Mendelian randomization analyses. From the LIGA team, which is leading all genomics and epigenomics efforts in EMIF-AD MDB, three researchers contributed (Drs. Dobricic, Hong and Bertram) in the paper that is now published in the journal Alzheimer & Dementia.