Lewy body dementia, Alzheimers disease, and control anterior cingulate cortex tissue samples
Lewy body disease (LBD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are leading causes of cognitive impairment, characterized by distinct neuropathological hallmarks. The deposition of extracellular amyloid plaques and intracellular accumulation of alpha-synuclein in the form of Lewy bodies and neurites characterizes LBD, with many cases also exhibiting tangle pathology. In contrast, AD is characterized by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Both conditions often co-occur with additional neuropathological changes, such as vascular disease, tangles, and TDP-43 pathology. To elucidate shared and distinct molecular signatures underlying these mixed neuropathologies, we conducted an extensive analysis of transcriptional changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region critically involved in cognitive processes. We performed bulk tissue RNAseq from the anterior cingulate cortex and determined differentially expressed genes (q < 0.05) in control (N = 81), LBD (N = 436), AD (N = 53), and pathological amyloid (N = 39) cases.