Relationship Between Serum mi R-15b and TLR7 Levels and Neuroinflammatory Responses and Cognitive Function in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

NIU Weifang; ZHENG Junran

doi:10.3639/j.issn.2095-3097.2024.11.041

Abstract：Objective To explore the relationship between serum microRNA-15b(miR-15b),Toll-like receptor 7(TLR7)levels and neuroinflammation as well as cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease(AD).Methods A total of 78 AD patients(AD group)and 32 healthy controls were selected from June 2022 to June 2024 in the Third Rongjun Special Care Hospital of Hebei Province.AD patients were divided into normal group(n=25),mild cognitive impairment(MCI)group(n=35),and dementia group(n=18)according to cognitive function.Serum miR-15b,TLR7,and neuroinflammatory fac-tors were detected.Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between serum miR-15b,TLR7,and neu-roinflammatory factors in AD patients.Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to analyze the evaluation efficiency of serum miR-15b and TLR7 levels for cognitive function in AD patients.Results In the AD group,the serum miR-15b level and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)score were lower than those in the control group,while the levels of TLR7,inter-leukin-1β(IL-1β),IL-6,and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)were higher(all P<0.05).In the AD group,the serum miR-15b level was negatively correlated with the levels of TLR7,IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α,and the serum TLR7 level was positively correlated with the levels of IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α(all P<0.05).In the normal,MCI,and dementia groups,the serum miR-15b level decreased in turn,and the levels of serum TLR7,IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α increased in turn(all P<0.05).The areas under the curve(AUCs)of the com-bined evaluation of serum miR-15b and TLR7 for MCI and dementia in AD patients were 0.869 and 0.875,re-spectively,which were larger than those of serum miR-15b(0.793,0.789)and TLR7(0.808,0.792)alone(all P<0.05).Conclusion The decrease in serum miR-15b level and the increase in TLR7 level in AD patients are related to the aggravation of neuroinflammation and the decline of cognitive function,and may become important indicators for the evaluation of cognitive function in AD patients.