PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yuzhe Sun
AU  - Zhen Hefu
AU  - Wang Lifang
AU  - Benchao Li
AU  - Song Zhijie
AU  - Yan Deng
AU  - Liu Zhili
AU  - Jiahong Ding
AU  - Tao Li
AU  - Wenwei Zhang
AU  - Nie Chao
AU  - Shuang Rong
TI  - Plasma exosomal miRNA analysis of Alzheimer’s disease reveals the dysfunction of a neural network
AID  - 10.1101/2021.04.12.439575
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.04.12.439575
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.12.439575.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.12.439575.full
AB  - Exosomal microRNA (miRNA) is an emerging source for biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we profiled miRNA expression in AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and controls. The assessment and validation of differentially expressed miRNA represented their potential to be novel biomarkers for AD and MCI. We conducted 13 co-expression networks and a miRNA network module linked to neural function emerged as the most significantly associated with AD diagnosis. The conservation analysis revealed the M1 was highly preserved in controls but dysfunction in AD and MCI. The module pattern between MCI and NC was similar, but significantly differed from AD, suggesting that the neural network regulated by miRNA changed during the mild cognitive stage, and the total miRNA expression altered in AD stage. Additionally, 24 out of 26 M1 hub-miRNAs were derived from brain tissue, and 15 had been reported as AD biomarkers. We consequently proposed the other 11 miRNAs could play important roles in AD. Our study highlights that co-expression network analysis can provide a new path for finding novel biomarkers.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.