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Plasma Exosomal miRNAs in Persons with and without Alzheimer Disease: Altered Expression and Prospects for Biomarkers
Lugli G, Cohen AM, Bennett DA, Shah RC, Fields CJ, Hernandez AG, Smalheiser NR.. PloS one, 2015-10-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
To assess the value of exosomal miRNAs as biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (AD), the expression of microRNAs was measured in a plasma fraction enriched in exosomes by differential centrifugation, using Illumina deep sequencing. Samples from 35 persons with a clinical diagnosis of AD dementia were compared to 35 age and sex matched controls. Although these samples contained less than 0.1 microgram of total RNA, deep sequencing gave reliable and informative results. Twenty miRNAs showed significant differences in the AD group in initial screening (miR-23b-3p, miR-24-3p, miR-29b-3p, miR-125b-5p, miR-138-5p, miR-139-5p, miR-141-3p, miR-150-5p, miR-152-3p, miR-185-5p, miR-338-3p, miR-342-3p, miR-342-5p, miR-548at-5p, miR-659-5p, miR-3065-5p, miR-3613-3p, miR-3916, miR-4772-3p, miR-5001-3p), many of which satisfied additional biological and statistical criteria, and among which a panel of seven miRNAs were highly informative in a machine learning model for predicting AD status of individual samples with 83-89% accuracy. This performance is not due to over-fitting, because a) we used separate samples for training and testing, and b) similar performance was achieved when tested on technical replicate data. Perhaps the most interesting single miRNA was miR-342-3p, which was a) expressed in the AD group at about 60% of control levels, b) highly correlated with several of the other miRNAs that were significantly down-regulated in AD, and c) was also reported to be down-regulated in AD in two previous studies. The findings warrant replication and follow-up with a larger cohort of patients and controls who have been carefully characterized in terms of cognitive and imaging data, other biomarkers (e.g., CSF amyloid and tau levels) and risk factors (e.g., apoE4 status), and who are sampled repeatedly over time. Integrating miRNA expression data with other data is likely to provide informative and robust biomarkers in Alzheimer disease.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Lugli, G., Cohen, A. M., Bennett, D. A., Shah, R. C., Fields, C. J., Hernandez, A. G., et al. (2015). Plasma Exosomal miRNAs in Persons with and without Alzheimer Disease: Altered Expression and Prospects for Biomarkers. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139233
Vancouver
Lugli G, Cohen AM, Bennett DA, Shah RC, Fields CJ, Hernandez AG, et al. Plasma Exosomal miRNAs in Persons with and without Alzheimer Disease: Altered Expression and Prospects for Biomarkers. PloS one. 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139233. PMID: 26426747.
BibTeX
@article{lugli2015-26426747,
author = {Lugli, G. and Cohen, A. M. and Bennett, D. A. and Shah, R. C. and Fields, C. J. and Hernandez, A. G. and Smalheiser, N. R.},
title = {{Plasma Exosomal miRNAs in Persons with and without Alzheimer Disease: Altered Expression and Prospects for Biomarkers}},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0139233},
pmid = {26426747},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139233}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Samples from 35 persons with a clinical diagnosis of AD dementia were compared to 35 age and sex matched controls.
- Although these samples contained less than 0.1 microgram of total RNA, deep sequencing gave reliable and informative results.
- Twenty miRNAs showed significant differences in the AD group in initial screening (miR-23b-3p, miR-24-3p, miR-29b-3p, miR-125b-5p, miR-138-5p, miR-139-5p, miR-141-3p, miR-150-5p, miR-152-3p, miR-185-5p, miR-338-3p, miR-342-3p, miR-342-5p, miR-548at-5p, miR-659-5p, miR-3065-5p, miR-3613-3p, miR-3916, miR-4772-3p, miR-5001-3p), many of which satisfied additional biological and statistical criteria, and among which a panel of seven miRNAs were highly informative in a machine learning model for predicting AD status of individual samples with 83-89% accuracy.
- Perhaps the most interesting single miRNA was miR-342-3p, which was a) expressed in the AD group at about 60% of control levels, b) highly correlated with several of the other miRNAs that were significantly down-regulated in AD, and c) was also reported to be down-regulated in AD in two previous studies.
Why it matters
In a comparison of 35 people with Alzheimer's disease dementia and 35 matched controls, a panel of seven microRNAs from a plasma fraction enriched in exosomes predicted Alzheimer's disease status with 83-89% accuracy. This is a preliminary biomarker study and does not treat, cure, or prevent the disease.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Getting a diagnosis →
Study details
- Participants35
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 56/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (PloS one) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | PLoS ONE: journal h-index 594 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 35 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 424 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 32.6 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 10.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 104 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Neil R. Smalheiser: h-index 49 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: institution h-index 1,439 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26426747) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 56 / 100 | — |
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