Genome-Wide Integrative Analysis Reveals Common Molecular Signatures in Blood and Brain of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

The currently utilized neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid-based detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suffer several limitations, including sensitivity, specificity, and cost. Therefore, the identification of AD by analyzing blood gene expression may ameliorate the early diagnosis of the AD. We aimed to identify common genes commonly deregulated in blood and brain in AD. Comprehensive analysis of blood and brain gene expression datasets of AD, eQTL, and epigenetics data was analyzed by the integrative bioinformatics approach. The integrative analysis showed nine differentially expressed genes common to blood cells and brain (CNBD1, SUCLG2-AS1, CCDC65, PDE4D, MTMR1, C3, SLC6A15, LINC01806, and FRG1JP). Analysis of SNP and cis-eQTL data showed 18 genes; namely, HSD17B1, GAS5, RPS5, VKORC1, GLE1, WDR1, RPL12, MORN1, RAD52, SDR39U1, NPHP4, MT1E, SORD, LINC00638, MCM3AP-AS1, GSDMD, RPS9, and GNL2 were observed deregulated AD blood and brain tissues. Functional gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated a significant association of these genes in neurodegeneration-associated molecular pathways. Integrative biomolecular networks revealed dysregulation of several hub transcription factors and microRNAs in AD. Moreover, hub genes were observed associated with significant histone modification. This study detected common molecular biomarkers and pathways in blood and brain tissues in AD that may be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in AD.