Kira Trares, MSc, of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, explains how data from the ESTHER study, a long term, population-based cohort study, was used to examine associations between inflammatory biomarkers and dementia. Over 1700 individuals were followed over a period of 17 years, and baseline blood samples were taken to analyze 72 biomarkers in the Olink inflammatory biomarker panel. During follow-up, 504 participants developed dementia; of these, 163 developed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and 195 developed vascular dementia (VD). It was found that 58 of the 72 inflammatory biomarkers were significantly associated with all-cause dementia incidence; 22 were significantly associated with AD, and 33 were significantly associated with VD. After a forward selection process, four biomarkers were shown to be independently associated with different forms of dementia: CX3CL1, EN-RAGE, LAP TGF-β-1 and VEGF-A. This interview took place during the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), 2021.
