Cell type-specific changes identified by single-cell transcriptomics in Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

The rapid advancement of single-cell transcriptomics in neurology has allowed for profiling of post-mortem human brain tissue across multiple diseases. Over the past 3 years, several studies have examined tissue from donors with and without diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting key changes in cell type composition and molecular signatures associated with pathology and, in some cases, cognitive decline. Although all of these studies have generated single-cell/nucleus RNA-seq or ATAC-seq data from the full array of major cell classes in the brain, they have each focused on changes in specific cell types. Here, we synthesize the main findings from these studies and contextualize them in the overall space of large-scale omics studies of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, we touch upon new horizons in the field, in particular advancements in high-resolution spatial interrogation of tissue and multi-modal efforts—and how they are likely to further advance mechanistic and target-selection studies on Alzheimer’s disease.