New Data Support a Causal Role for Depression in Alzheimer's!
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Researchers have known for some time that depression is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but a causal link has been elusive. Now, using newly available data, they have uncovered genetic evidence of a causal role for depression in AD. As depression typically affects those in early or midlife and dementia often occurs in later life, it's fascinating to see a connection between the two brain illnesses that manifest in different time windows
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@sharbatanu The researchers also accessed postmortem brain samples from participants in the Religious Orders Study (ROS) and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP). These participants were cognitively normal at enrollment, underwent annual clinical evaluations, and agreed to donate their brains. They also assessed brain samples donated by participants in the Banner Sun Health Research Institutelongitudinal study of healthy aging, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The brain samples allowed researchers to use deep brain proteomic data to help determine molecular links between depression and AD.
After quality control, the analysis included 8356 proteins in 391 ROS/MAP participants and 7854 proteins in 196 Banner participants.