Long before the brain undergoes degenerative changes that destroy memory, the body may be sending out distress signals. A new study found that elevated levels of a hormone called "Growth/Differentiation Factor-15" (GDF15) in peripheral blood are significantly associated with the risk of future dementia. The research team believes that this chemical is expected to become an important biomarker for predicting cognitive decline.
This study was led by scientists from the U.S. National Institute on Aging and completed in conjunction with a multinational team. It used human protein atlas data constructed from six previous studies to systematically analyze the connection between GDF15 and dementia, and explore the mechanism by which it may drive neurodegenerative changes. Based on data from about 500,000 subjects with a 10-year follow-up period, researchers found that people with higher blood levels of GDF15 were significantly more likely to develop dementia in the future.
Among different types of dementia, GDF15 is most prominently associated with vascular dementia, which is mainly caused by damage to the nervous system caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. In fact, GDF15 has long been suspected of being involved in a variety of health problems, including kidney disease and severe pregnancy reactions. Some studies have also suggested that it may be related to accelerated cognitive decline, but its specific value in predicting dementia has not been clear before.
The latest analysis shows that this growth factor is expressed in various tissues of the human body, especially concentrated in the kidney, bladder and ventricular area, but there is almost no obvious trace of direct expression in the cells of the central nervous system. The study also found that GDF15 levels gradually increase over time, whether measured by chronological or biological age, and this upward trend is particularly obvious in men.
More importantly, high GDF15 levels were independently associated with an increased risk of dementia, even after statistically adjusting for demographic characteristics and various health conditions. In an extended analysis of younger people, the researchers found that a "doubling" of plasma GDF15 levels in middle age was associated with an approximately 55% higher risk of dementia over the next 20 years.
In a laboratory environment, the team also observed metabolic changes and antiviral signaling changes in immune cells after exposure to GDF15. These changes may affect brain tissue health through multiple pathways. The research team pointed out in the paper that GDF15 levels in the circulation are related to a series of molecular changes, some of which have protective effects in specific situations, such as inhibiting cancer cell proliferation; but in the context of human dementia, the immunosuppressive effect of GDF15 may instead promote the development of harmful pathological processes.
Of course, this study still has limitations, and the researchers also emphasized the need to further explore the performance of GDF15 in cerebrospinal fluid and its specific impact on professional immune cells in the central nervous system. Even so, this hormone has shown potential to become a "strong candidate" as an early diagnostic tool for dementia, which is expected to help professionals intervene early in the disease to slow down the progression of the disease as much as possible, or at least prepare high-risk groups for future challenges in advance.
Relevant results have been published in the journal Science Advances. The research is supported by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and released through MedicalXpress and other channels.