Publications by authors named "Stephanie J. B. Vos"

Importance: Baseline cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and APOE ε4 allele copy number are important risk factors for amyloid-related imaging abnormalities in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) receiving therapies to lower amyloid-β plaque levels.

Objective: To provide prevalence estimates of any, no more than 4, or fewer than 2 CMBs in association with amyloid status, APOE ε4 copy number, and age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used data included in the Amyloid Biomarker Study data pooling initiative (January 1, 2012, to the present [data collection is ongoing]).

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Importance: Depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive decline in older individuals. Uncertainty about underlying mechanisms hampers diagnostic and therapeutic efforts. This large-scale study aimed to elucidate the association between depressive symptoms and amyloid pathology.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial disease with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to its etiology. Previous evidence has implicated disturbed insulin signaling as a key mechanism that plays a role in both neurodegenerative diseases such as AD and comorbid somatic diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2). In this study, we analysed available genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of AD and somatic insulin-related diseases and conditions (SID), i.

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  • Blood-derived DNA methylation shows potential for early detection of dementia risk, linking biological factors with lifestyle and environmental influences.
  • A multivariate methylation risk score (MMRS) was developed, predicting mild cognitive impairment independently of age and sex, alongside significant future risk of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
  • The study highlights the integration of machine learning and omics data to enhance dementia risk prediction at the population level.
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  • The study examined DNA methylation patterns in blood samples related to 15 key biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease, focusing on neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration effects.
  • Using 885 samples from the EMIF-AD study, researchers identified significant differential methylation connected to CSF levels of YKL-40 and neurofilament light chain (NfL).
  • Findings suggest a link between YKL-40 DNA methylation and genetic variants, with implications for understanding how DNA methylation influences protein levels relevant to Alzheimer's disease.
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Introduction: We investigated how cerebrospinal fluid levels of synaptic proteins associate with memory function in normal cognition (CN) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and investigated the effect of amyloid positivity on these associations.

Methods: We included 242 CN (105(43%) abnormal amyloid), and 278 MCI individuals (183(66%) abnormal amyloid) from EMIF-AD MBD and ADNI. For 181 (EMIF-AD MBD) and 36 (ADNI) proteins with a synaptic annotation in SynGO, associations with word learning recall were analysed with linear models.

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  • The study investigated the relationship between glucose metabolism and the development of tau pathology, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, in middle-aged adults without dementia.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 288 participants, examining their fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels and later PET scans for amyloid-β and tau loads.
  • Results showed that elevated plasma glucose correlated with increased tau load after 14 years, particularly in individuals who were not carriers of the APOE ε4 allele, while insulin levels and HOMA-IR did not show significant associations with either amyloid-β or tau.
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Background: Structural and functional changes of the choroid plexus (ChP) have been reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nonetheless, the role of the ChP in the pathogenesis of AD remains largely unknown. We aim to unravel the relation between ChP functioning and core AD pathogenesis using a unique proteomic approach in mice and humans.

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  • The study investigated the role of neurodegeneration markers (neurogranin, neurofilament light, and hippocampal volume) in Alzheimer's disease using cerebrospinal fluid proteomics.
  • A small number of individuals exhibited both amyloid and tau pathology with either neurogranin or neurofilament light, showing distinct proteomic profiles based on these markers.
  • The findings suggest that neurogranin might not be the best indicator of neurodegeneration and that different markers provide unique insights into the disease, helping refine staging beyond just amyloid and tau levels.
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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition for which there is currently no available medication that can stop its progression. Previous studies suggest that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a phase that precedes the disease. Therefore, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind MCI conversion to AD is needed.

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The development of biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (AD) has led to the origin of suspected non-AD pathophysiology (SNAP) - a heterogeneous biomarker-based concept that describes individuals with normal amyloid and abnormal tau and/or neurodegeneration biomarker status. In this Review, we describe the origins of the SNAP construct, along with its prevalence, diagnostic and prognostic implications, and underlying neuropathology. As we discuss, SNAP can be operationalized using different biomarker modalities, which could affect prevalence estimates and reported characteristics of SNAP in ways that are not yet fully understood.

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  • The study investigates the relationship between insulin resistance (IR)-related conditions, like type 2 diabetes and obesity, and neuropsychiatric disorders, highlighting the complexity of their co-occurrence as a public health issue.
  • Researchers used genome-wide association studies (GWASs) with a large sample size to analyze genetic correlations between these conditions, identifying various genomic regions with significant local correlations.
  • The findings suggest that these correlated regions are linked to important biological pathways, indicating potential targets for treatments and a need for an integrated approach to understanding and managing these interconnected health problems.
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  • * Results showed that impaired glucose metabolism and DM status correlated with higher tau biomarkers, but not with amyloid-β, suggesting a specific association with tau in certain population settings.
  • * These findings highlight the importance of understanding the relationship between DM and AD biomarkers, which could improve diagnostics and treatment for both conditions.
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  • Alzheimer's disease and vascular issues commonly affect the elderly, but how they impact cognitive decline is still unclear.
  • The study examined 227 patients from memory clinics for the combined effect of amyloid abnormalities and vascular burdens on cognitive decline, using various cognitive assessments and MRI data.
  • Results indicated that those with both amyloid abnormalities and vascular issues showed greater cognitive decline, but amyloid abnormalities were the main predictor of decline, suggesting vascular burden has a lesser role.
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Introduction: This study employed an integrative system and causal inference approach to explore molecular signatures in blood and CSF, the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration [AT(N)] framework, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and genetic risk for AD.

Methods: Using the European Medical Information Framework (EMIF)-AD cohort, we measured 696 proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (n = 371), 4001 proteins in plasma (n = 972), 611 metabolites in plasma (n = 696), and genotyped whole-blood (7,778,465 autosomal single nucleotide epolymorphisms, n = 936). We investigated associations: molecular modules to AT(N), module hubs with AD Polygenic Risk scores and APOE4 genotypes, molecular hubs to MCI conversion and probed for causality with AD using Mendelian randomization (MR).

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  • - The study explores how rare genetic variations contribute to Alzheimer's disease (AD) related traits, even though this area has not received much focus before.
  • - Researchers conducted rare-variant association studies on genetic data from two different studies involving a total of 1,258 participants to identify any significant associations with Alzheimer's traits.
  • - They discovered a new mutation possibly linked to AD and found significant genetic contributions from specific genes (RBKS and OR7A10) to cognitive performance and brain changes, which could help in developing new treatments and diagnostic methods for AD.
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  • Clinical research indicates a significant overlap between neuropsychiatric disorders and insulin resistance-related conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes, affecting cognitive function.
  • The review analyzed 18 studies from the UK Biobank, confirming that insulin resistance is associated with poorer cognitive performance, particularly in verbal and numerical reasoning and processing speed.
  • Possible mechanisms for these associations include changes in immune response, brain health and connectivity, and the presence of other health issues.
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  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is linked to various psychiatric and neurological disorders, and this study aimed to explore these associations in a large cohort of Danish citizens, while considering the order of diagnosis between T2DM and brain disorders.
  • The research analyzed data from nearly 1.9 million individuals born between 1955 and 1984, revealing significant associations between T2DM and a range of disorders, especially eating disorders and schizophrenia in the psychiatric category, along with inflammatory brain diseases and epilepsy in the neurological category.
  • Most associations were found to exist regardless of whether T2DM was diagnosed before or after the brain disorders, indicating a possible shared underlying cause between T2DM and these conditions, particularly
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Background: Suspected non-Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology (SNAP) is a biomarker concept that encompasses individuals with neuronal injury but without amyloidosis. We aim to investigate the pathophysiology of SNAP, defined as abnormal tau without amyloidosis, in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics.

Methods: Individuals were classified based on CSF amyloid beta (Aβ)1-42 (A) and phosphorylated tau (T), as cognitively normal A-T- (CN), MCI A-T+ (MCI-SNAP), and MCI A+T+ (MCI-AD).

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Introduction: It is important to understand which biological processes change with aging, and how such changes are associated with increased Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. We studied how cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics changed with age and tested if associations depended on amyloid status, sex, and apolipoprotein E Ɛ4 genotype.

Methods: We included 277 cognitively intact individuals aged 46 to 89 years from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, European Medical Information Framework for Alzheimer's Disease Multimodal Biomarker Discovery, and Metabolic Syndrome in Men.

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  • Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder, and its prevalence is rising, especially in older populations, prompting extensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) focused on its genetic factors.* -
  • This study utilized data from 931 individuals to conduct 19 separate GWAS analyses, examining both brain imaging and cognitive performance traits over time, which showed significant genetic associations in specific genes linked to memory recall.* -
  • Results included notable genetic signals related to memory performance, including those on chromosomes 2 and 6, as well as a significant finding on the X chromosome, revealing new insights into the genetic underpinnings of cognitive function in AD.*
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Background: Increased total tau (t-tau) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a key characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is considered to result from neurodegeneration. T-tau levels, however, can be increased in very early disease stages, when neurodegeneration is limited, and can be normal in advanced disease stages. This suggests that t-tau levels may be driven by other mechanisms as well.

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Background: The relation between vascular risk factors (VRFs) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is important due to possible pathophysiological association.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of VRFs in biomarker-based AT(N) groups and the associations between VRFs, AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and cognition in clinical context.

Methods: We included patients from two memory clinics in University Hospital Aachen (Germany) and Maastricht University Medical Centre (The Netherlands).

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers represent several neurodegenerative processes, such as synaptic dysfunction, neuronal inflammation and injury, as well as amyloid pathology. We performed an exome-wide rare variant analysis of six AD biomarkers (β-amyloid, total/phosphorylated tau, NfL, YKL-40, and Neurogranin) to discover genes associated with these markers. Genetic and biomarker information was available for 480 participants from two studies: EMIF-AD and ADNI.

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