Early detection of Alzheimer's disease by analysis of brain-enriched miRNA biomarkers in plasma

Abstract

IL7was significantly negatively associated with depression (OR1⁄40.01, 95% CI .00-0.47). Serum IL7 was significantly positively associated with depression (OR1⁄43.01, 95% CI 1.02-9.31). Preliminary analyses suggest that diagnosis (AD versus control) also impacted the relation between GDS scores and IL7. Plasma IL7 levels were significantly negatively associated with GDS scores among women diagnosed with AD whereas serum IL7 was significantly negatively associated with GDS scores among female normal controls. Conclusions: Our results confirm prior work that IL7 is significantly associated with depression scores and shows that the IL7 depression link varies by gender and blood fraction. IL7 levels are weakly correlated across blood fractions. Future work examining blood-based markers of depression must consider gender as well as blood fraction in analyses. If IL-7 is considered in as a therapeutic agent for depression or AD, the current findings suggest that gender should be considered in trial design.