# Circulating inflammatory proteins predict dementia risk, and are linked to structural brain changes and modifiable risk factors

## TL;DR

This study finds that certain inflammatory proteins in the blood can predict dementia risk and are linked to brain changes and modifiable risk factors.

## Contribution

The study introduces a 20-protein signature that improves dementia risk prediction and explores causal and mediating roles of specific proteins.

## Key findings

- 218 inflammatory proteins were individually associated with incident dementia.
- A 20-protein signature significantly improved dementia risk prediction beyond known factors.
- TNFRSF11B was linked to dementia and reduced hippocampal volume, while sFRP4 and MEPE were associated with lower Brain Age.

## Abstract

Systemic inflammation has been identified as a key factor in neurodegeneration but the value of circulating inflammatory proteins in dementia risk prediction and their causal role has not been elucidated.

We leveraged proteomic data from 43,685 UK Biobank participants to investigate associations between 728 Olink inflammatory proteins and incident dementia using Cox proportional-hazards (Cox-PH) models. We used Cox-PH with LASSO regularisation to calculate a sparse signature of inflammatory proteins (ProSig) predicting incident dementia. Linear regressions assessed the association between ProSig and individual proteins with brain image-derived phenotypes and Brain Age in participants with available neuroimaging data (n = 4,106). Formal mediation analyses investigated whether inflammatory proteins mediated associations between genetic and modifiable risk factors and dementia outcomes. Mendelian randomisation (MR) tested the causal relationship between inflammatory proteins and dementia outcomes.

218 inflammatory proteins were individually associated with incident dementia in Cox-PH models (pFDR < 0.05). A 20-protein signature significantly improved the prediction of incident dementia beyond known risk factors. TNFRSF11B, a protein linked to vascular damage, was associated with both incident dementia and reduced hippocampal volume. Two proteins, sFRP4 and MEPE, were linked to reduced Brain Age, with sFRP4 also being protective against dementia. Mediation analyses indicated that TNFRSF11B, APOE and C7 may partially mediate associations between modifiable risk factors and dementia. MR analyses suggested protective causal effects of TNFSF13 and IL17D.

By triangulating evidence, this study shows that inflammatory proteins improve dementia risk prediction and play heterogeneous roles in dementia pathophysiology.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13195-025-01951-z.