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Zhao B, Li T, Fan Z, Yang Y, Shu J, Yang X, Wang X, Luo T, Tang J, Xiong D, Wu Z, Li B, Chen J, Shan Y, Tomlinson C, Zhu Z, Li Y, Stein JL, Zhu H. Heart-brain connections: Phenotypic and genetic insights from magnetic resonance images. Science. 2023 Jun 2;380(6648):abn6598. PubMed.
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University of Southern California
University of Southern California
This is the most in-depth analysis to date of heart-brain connections in human health and disease, utilizing genetic and MRI analysis of both heart and brain traits in over 40,000 individuals from the U.K. Biobank and other data repositories. Numerous robust correlations were observed between heart and brain MRI metrics, genetics, and endophenotypes, several of which were found to have causal (heart-to-brain) significance in Mendelian randomization analysis.
The study findings have substantial relevance to Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, given prior work underscoring the importance of vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia. Specifically, the authors report important genetic links between heart MRI metrics and brain structural and functional connectivity metrics known to underpin cognitive functions affected by ADRD, as well as links to vascular brain injuries and cerebral small vessel diseases known to contribute to cognitive decline in the majority of cases.
Detailed analysis of the genes involved in heart-brain axis correlations also revealed that many of these genes are targeted by existing medications that prior studies have suggested may benefit both cardiac and neuropsychiatric conditions, highlighting the potential clinical implications of the study findings. Thus, further study of the heart-brain axis is warranted, and will likely lead to additional insights into novel prevention and treatment strategies for ADRD.
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