Blood-based proteomic signatures of spontaneous menopause: Implications for later-life brain aging and Alzheimer's disease risk.

ABSTRACT: Menopause is a hallmark process in biological aging that has been associated with later life neurodegenerative risk. We leveraged proteomics data from multiple cohorts ( N >3,000) to identify biological changes underlying menopause and its links to brain aging. In N =80 rigorously-phenotyped pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal women with serum NULISAseq proteomics, spontaneous menopause was characterized by dysregulation in inflammatory, synaptic, metabolic, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biologic processes, which tracked with hormones and not age. Pro-inflammatory protein upregulation was especially pronounced in women with vasomotor symptoms. In two cohorts of older women ( N =94; N =100), menopause-related proteomic elevations associated with poorer cognitive outco

SUBMITTER: Wood Alexander M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12919155 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature