INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 02 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 08:00 am - 09:15 am Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 02: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1 Final Abstract #62 Pilot Investigation of Blood-Based Cytokines in Alzheimer’s Disease Myjae Maloy-Robertson, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States Samantha John, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States Category: Dementia (Alzheimer's Disease) Keyword 1: dementia - Alzheimer's disease Keyword 2: aging disorders Objective: Allostatic load (AL) is defined as the accumulation of stressful situations that affect the body mentally and physically. This construct can be used to assess physiological ‘wear and tear’ on the body, and it has been linked to cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and even an increased risk of mortality. The traditional model for AL was proposed in 1997 and is measured through 10 markers of health that encompass four domains: cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, and neuroendocrine. Given recent improvements to blood-based biomarker access and capacity, metrics of AL can likely be improved and utilized within neurodegenerative disease research to better understand health disparities. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia that affects older adults and results in declines in cognitive abilities. The two significant hallmarks of AD pathology are amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The presence of an amyloid-positive PET scan was used to define disease state in these analyses. As part of a larger project, we evaluated participants for evidence of allostatic load using a combination of literature-supported indicators and compared these indicators by amyloid status. Participants and Methods: Baseline demographic, clinical, and biomarker data from the Nevada Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience (CNTN) clinical cohort were analyzed. Older adult (N = 90; M_age= 72.44, SD_age= 7.17; 55.6% male, 90% white), cognitively heterogeneous (MoCA M_total= 23.40) participants underwent a comprehensive evaluation as part of a longitudinal prospective study on AD. Participants had college-level education (M_years=16.01). Levels of three blood-based cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α (IL-1α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were compared between those who were amyloid positive and amyloid negative using independent-samples t-tests. Amyloid imaging is U.S. FDA-approved to aid the diagnosis of AD and it is accomplished by PET ligands binding to plaques that are linked to neuronal injury. There was an even split in numbers between those in the sample who were amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative (45/90). Results: Of the three cytokines evaluated, only levels of IL-1β significantly differed between the amyloid-positive participants (M = 4.50, SD = 4.56) and amyloid-negative participants (M = 3.02, SD = 2.16), t(62.81) = -1.97, p = .05 (two-tailed) equal variances not assumed. The magnitude of the difference was moderate (Cohen’s d = -.42; mean difference = -1.48, 95% CI: -2.98 to .02). The mean difference for both IL-1a (p = .61) and TNF-α (p = .79) were not significant. Conclusions: This preliminary evaluation suggests that IL-1β may be more reliably associated with amyloid status, relative to other cytokine markers. The biggest limitation of this pilot project is the lack of diversity within the cohort. Future investigations will analyze AL in the context of a larger and more diverse cohort that includes a mix of cognitively healthy individuals and individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Additionally, to investigate longitudinal stability, future directions could include an assessment of changes in cytokine levels over time.

Poster

02/15/2024
08:00 am - 09:15 am
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 02: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1

Final Abstract #62

Pilot Investigation of Blood-Based Cytokines in Alzheimer’s Disease

Myjae Maloy-Robertson, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States
Samantha John, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States

Category: Dementia (Alzheimer's Disease)

Keyword 1: dementia - Alzheimer's disease
Keyword 2: aging disorders

Objective:

Allostatic load (AL) is defined as the accumulation of stressful situations that affect the body mentally and physically. This construct can be used to assess physiological ‘wear and tear’ on the body, and it has been linked to cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, and even an increased risk of mortality. The traditional model for AL was proposed in 1997 and is measured through 10 markers of health that encompass four domains: cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory, and neuroendocrine. Given recent improvements to blood-based biomarker access and capacity, metrics of AL can likely be improved and utilized within neurodegenerative disease research to better understand health disparities.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia that affects older adults and results in declines in cognitive abilities. The two significant hallmarks of AD pathology are amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The presence of an amyloid-positive PET scan was used to define disease state in these analyses. As part of a larger project, we evaluated participants for evidence of allostatic load using a combination of literature-supported indicators and compared these indicators by amyloid status.

Participants and Methods:

Baseline demographic, clinical, and biomarker data from the Nevada Center for Neurodegeneration and Translational Neuroscience (CNTN) clinical cohort were analyzed. Older adult (N = 90; M_age= 72.44, SD_age= 7.17; 55.6% male, 90% white), cognitively heterogeneous (MoCA M_total= 23.40) participants underwent a comprehensive evaluation as part of a longitudinal prospective study on AD. Participants had college-level education (M_years=16.01). Levels of three blood-based cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α (IL-1α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were compared between those who were amyloid positive and amyloid negative using independent-samples t-tests. Amyloid imaging is U.S. FDA-approved to aid the diagnosis of AD and it is accomplished by PET ligands binding to plaques that are linked to neuronal injury. There was an even split in numbers between those in the sample who were amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative (45/90).

Results:

Of the three cytokines evaluated, only levels of IL-1β significantly differed between the amyloid-positive participants (M = 4.50, SD = 4.56) and amyloid-negative participants (M = 3.02, SD = 2.16), t(62.81) = -1.97, p = .05 (two-tailed) equal variances not assumed. The magnitude of the difference was moderate (Cohen’s d = -.42; mean difference = -1.48, 95% CI: -2.98 to .02). The mean difference for both IL-1a (p = .61) and TNF-α (p = .79) were not significant.

Conclusions:

This preliminary evaluation suggests that IL-1β may be more reliably associated with amyloid status, relative to other cytokine markers. The biggest limitation of this pilot project is the lack of diversity within the cohort. Future investigations will analyze AL in the context of a larger and more diverse cohort that includes a mix of cognitively healthy individuals and individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Additionally, to investigate longitudinal stability, future directions could include an assessment of changes in cytokine levels over time.