[A role of altered inflammation-related gene expression in cerebral small vessel disease with cognitive impairment].

Objective: To identify the role of changes in the expression of inflammation-related genes in cerebral microangiopathy/cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD).

Material And Methods: Forty-four cSVD patients (mean age 61.4±9.2) and 11 controls (mean age 57.3±9.7) were studied. Gene expression was assessed on an individual NanoString nCounter panel of 58 inflammation-related genes and 4 reference genes. A set of genes was generated based on converging results of complete genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in cSVD and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and circulating markers associated with vascular wall and Brain lesions in cSVD. RNA was isolated from blood leukocytes and analyzed with the nCounter Analysis System, followed by analysis in nSolver 4.0. Results were verified by real-time PCR.

Results: CSVD patients had a significant decrease in (log2FC=-1.272; 0.039) and (log2FC=-1.441; 0.038) expression compared to controls, which showed predictive ability for cSVD. The cut-off for expression was 5.76 a.u. (sensitivity 73%; specificity 75%) and the cut-off for expression was 9.27 a.u. (sensitivity 64%; specificity 86%). Reduced expression of (0.011), (0.017), (0.044) was associated with cognitive impairment (CI). There was a significant direct correlation between expression and the scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test and between and expression and delayed memory.

Conclusion: The possible prediction of cSVD by reduced expression levels of , and the association of clinically significant CI with reduced and expression indicate their importance in the development and progression of the disease. The established importance of these genes in the pathogenesis of AD suggests that similar changes in their expression profile in cSVD may be one of the conditions for the comorbidity of the two pathologies.