Skip to main content
Search
Main content
EMBO molecular medicine
Published

Glia inflammation and cell death pathways drive disease progression in preclinical and early AD

Authors

Marcel S Woo, Joseph Therriault, Seyyed Ali Hosseini, Yi-Ting Wang, Arthur C Macedo, Nesrine Rahmouni, Étienne Aumont, Stijn Servaes, Cécile Tissot, Jaime Fernandez-Arias, Lydia Trudel, Brandon Hall, Gleb Bezgin, Kely Quispialaya-Socualaya, Marina Goncalves, Tevy Chan, Jenna Stevenson, Yansheng Zheng, Stuart Mitchell, Robert Hopewell, Ilaria Pola, Kubra Tan, Guglielmo Di Molfetta, Firoza Z Lussier, Gassan Massarweh, Paolo Vitali, Jean-Paul Soucy, Serge Gauthier, Nicholas J Ashton, Kaj Blennow, Tharick A Pascoal, Henrik Zetterberg, Andréa L Benedet, Pedro Rosa-Neto

Abstract

EMBO Mol Med. 2025 Oct 10. doi: 10.1038/s44321-025-00316-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are followed by the activation of glia cells and infiltration of peripheral immune cells that collectively accelerate neurodegeneration in preclinical AD models. Yet, the role of neuroinflammation for neuronal injury and disease progression in preclinical and early symptomatic AD remains elusive. Here, we combined multiplexed immunoassays and SomaScan proteomics of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with MRI and PET brain imaging of people across the AD continuum to identify pathways that are associated with AD progression. Unbiased clustering revealed that glia-mediated inflammation, activation of cell death pathways (CDPs) and synaptic pathologies were among the earliest Aβ-induced changes, and were associated with disease progression in preclinical AD. Mediation analysis revealed that activation of CDPs were decisive drivers of inflammation in early symptomatic AD. The cycle of glia-mediated neuroinflammation and neuronal injury characterizes preclinical AD and has implications for novel treatment approaches.

PMID:41073674 | DOI:10.1038/s44321-025-00316-1

UK DRI Authors

Profile picture of Henrik Zetterberg

Prof Henrik Zetterberg

Group Leader

Pioneering the development of fluid biomarkers for dementia

Prof Henrik Zetterberg