Aging is an inevitable progressive decline in every physiological function and serves as a primary risk factor for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, age-dependent impairments in cognitive function must be understood in association with general aging processes with an integrative approach in a systemic manner. An integrative aging gene network was constructed based on mutual molecular interactions using literature-curated interactome data and separated into functionally distinct modules. To investigate key surrogate biomarkers of the aging brain in the context of the general aging process, co-expression networks were built on post-mortem and Alzheimer’s brain transcriptome data. In both the normal aging brain and the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease, the immune-related co-expression module was positively correlated with advancing age, whereas the synaptic transmission-related co-expression module was decreased with age. Importantly, the network topology-based analysis indicated that complement system genes were prioritized as a surrogate biomarker in evaluating the process of brain aging. Our public data-centered analysis coupled with experimental validation revealed that the complement system is likely to be a master regulator in initiating and regulating the immune system in the aging brain and could serve as reliable and surrogate biomarkers for the diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.