Blood-derived microRNA signatures associated with hippocampal structure and atrophy rate: findings from the Rhineland Study.
Overview
- Population Health Sciences, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE),Bonn, Germany
- Department for Epigenetics and Systems Medicine in Neurodegenerative Diseases, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE),Göttingen, Germany
- Bioinformatics Unit, German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE),Göttingen, Germany
- Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen,Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence MBExC, University of Göttingen & University Medical Center Göttingen,Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn,Bonn, Germany
- Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology (IMBIE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn,Bonn, Germany
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been linked to brain disorders, but their relations with hippocampal structure and atrophy remain unexplored. As the hippocampus is pivotal for cognition and dementia, understanding these relations and their specificity for the hippocampus would elucidate miRNA involvement in brain health and neurodegeneration. Here, using population-based data, we cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined the associations of blood-derived miRNAs with left and right hippocampal volume, hippocampal asymmetry, and total brain volume. Expression of miRNAs and their putative target genes was measured at study baseline in whole blood using RNA sequencing. Brain imaging measures were examined at baseline and re-examined 4.60–8.02 years later using 3 T MRI. We investigated miRNA associations with imaging measures cross-sectionally using linear regression and longitudinally using linear mixed-effect models. Cross-sectionally, six miRNAs (miR-199a-3p, miR-199b-3p, miR-155-5p, miR-146a-5p, miR-6859-5p, miR-505-5p) were associated exclusively with left hippocampal volume. Longitudinally, another five miRNAs (miR-361-3p, miR-4473, miR-381-3p, miR-543, miR-370-3p) were associated with left hippocampal, right hippocampal, and total brain atrophy rates. Twenty-one miRNAs were exclusively associated with total brain atrophy rate. In whole blood, miRNAs identified in the cross-sectional analysis targeted genes related to brain development, memory, and synapse assembly. MiRNAs from the longitudinal analysis targeted genes related to axonal and dendritic growth. Several identified miRNAs were previously linked to neurodegeneration. Especially miR-146a-5p and miR-370-3p have been consistently linked to dementia and could be investigated as presymptomatic blood-based biomarkers. The brain-specific functions and interactions with target genes of identified miRNAs could be further investigated to develop therapeutic strategies against neurodegeneration.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.
Code availability
The R code used to carry out analyses can be made available upon reasonable request by contacting the authors.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.
Data availability
The Rhineland Study’s dataset is not publicly available because of data protection regulations. Access to data can be provided to scientists in accordance with the Rhineland Study’s Data Use and Access Policy. Requests for further information or to access the Rhineland Study’s dataset should be directed to.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 3 keywords, 13 MeSH terms, 3 funders, 76 references.
Cite
This paper
Melas, K., Talevi, V., Imtiaz, M. A., Krüger, D. M., Pena-Centeno, T., Fischer, A., Aziz, N. A., & Breteler, M. M. B. (2026). Blood-derived microRNA signatures associated with hippocampal structure and atrophy rate: findings from the Rhineland Study. Molecular psychiatry, 31(9), 5215-5227. https://
BibTeX
@article{melas2026blood,
author = {Melas, Konstantinos and Talevi, Valentina and Imtiaz, Mohammed Aslam and Krüger, Dennis M. and Pena-Centeno, Tonatiuh and Fischer, André and Aziz, N. Ahmad and Breteler, Monique M. B.},
title = {{Blood-derived microRNA signatures associated with hippocampal structure and atrophy rate: findings from the Rhineland Study}},
journal = {Molecular psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {31},
number = {9},
pages = {5215--5227},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
issn = {1359-4184},
doi = {10.1038/
url = {https://
pmid = {42032299},
pmcid = {PMC13441870}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Melas, Konstantinos
AU - Talevi, Valentina
AU - Imtiaz, Mohammed Aslam
AU - Krüger, Dennis M.
AU - Pena-Centeno, Tonatiuh
AU - Fischer, André
AU - Aziz, N. Ahmad
AU - Breteler, Monique M. B.
TI - Blood-derived microRNA signatures associated with hippocampal structure and atrophy rate: findings from the Rhineland Study
T2 - Molecular psychiatry
J2 - Mol Psychiatry
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 31
IS - 9
SP - 5215
EP - 5227
SN - 1359-4184
PB - Springer Nature
DO - 10.1038/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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"container-title": "Molecular psychiatry",
"author": [
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"given": "Mohammed Aslam"
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"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
"issued": {
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