Understanding Alzheimer's Risk and Immune Health in Heart Disease

This study will examine the relationship between renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system function, cognitive function, and Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarkers with peripheral inflammation and immune cells.

This study explores how the immune system relates to memory, cognition, and Alzheimer’s risk in middle-aged adults with heart conditions. As heart problems surge in the under-65 population, the connection to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s remains unclear. Surveys, blood tests, and memory assessments will be used to better understand how factors like high blood pressure affect cognition and may elevate Alzheimer’s risk.  Insights into heart health, immunity, and Alzheimer’s can benefit at-risk individuals and shape future treatments.

This proposal innovates by (1) targeting an unstudied group at risk for AD, potentially identifying a new intervention target. (2) It uses peripheral blood biomarkers, making research more accessible and representative, bypassing common exclusion criteria. (3) By including immune cell biomarkers, it offers a minimally invasive method, particularly beneficial for diverse groups with AD risk factors.

By establishing a target group and solidifying measures for intervention, this study will lead to identification of an important but previously overlooked risk group for which both lifestyle and pharmaceutical interventions could be developed. This study includes comprehensive measures of social determinants of health to examine potential sociocultural, structural, and biological factors related to higher AD risk. Examining these biomarkers in a racially diverse group with known vascular risk factors for AD may shed further light on these mechanisms.