Adult Vaccination History and Plasma Biomarker Signatures in the Asymptomatic PREVENT-AD Cohort

Product:

CNS Disease Panel 120

Topic:

Immunology, Neurology

Disease Area:

Alzheimer's Disease. Vaccination

Sample Type:

Plasma

Abstract

Background Epidemiological studies increasingly associate several adult vaccinations with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dementia, but the biological mechanisms underlying these observations remain unclear. We investigated whether adult vaccination history is associated with AD-related and immune-related biomarker profiles in cognitively unimpaired individuals at increased familial risk for AD.

Methods This exploratory study included 192 participants from the PREVENT-AD cohort. Adult vaccination and infection histories were collected using a structured questionnaire and examined in relation to plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Adjusted regression models evaluated individual vaccine exposures, vaccination-profile breadth, broader proteomic signatures, CSF biomarkers, viral-history interactions, and psychological symptoms, with false-discovery-rate (FDR) correction applied for multiple testing.

Results Influenza, herpes zoster, pneumococcal, and Td/Tdap vaccination were not associated with FDR-significant differences in the principal plasma amyloid and tau biomarker panel. Hepatitis B vaccination was associated with lower plasma total tau/MAPT, p-tau181, and p-tau231 after correction within the AD biomarker panel, although these findings may reflect residual behavioral or healthcare-related confounding. Greater vaccination-profile breadth was associated with higher plasma NPTX1 (β = 0.261, p = 0.007, q = 0.049), whereas its nominal association with a lower Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio did not survive FDR correction. Nominal herpes zoster associations with lower CSF Aβ42 and pTau were similarly attenuated after correction. No robust FDR-significant associations emerged from viral-history interaction or psychological symptom analyses.

Conclusions Adult vaccination history was not associated with a broad plasma amyloid or tau signature in this asymptomatic, familial-risk cohort. However, the association between broader vaccination exposure and higher NPTX1 suggests a potentially distinct synaptic-related signal, while the hepatitis B findings identify additional hypothesis-generating tau-related associations. Longitudinal studies incorporating vaccine timing, infection burden, and repeated biomarker measurements are needed to determine whether vaccination influences biological pathways relevant to AD resilience.

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Authors and Affiliations

Sophie Charland², Mélissa Savard², Isabel Sarty², Christine Dery², Sylvia Villeneuve¹˒², Cynthia Picard², and Judes Poirier¹˒²

¹ Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 845 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A
² Centre for the Studies in the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease, 6875 Lasalle boulevard, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4H 1R3

Steve Williams, MD, PhD

CSO

Dr. Willams serves as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer. He was previously Chief Medical Officer at Standard Biotools and at SomaLogic where he pioneered the discipline for discovery and validation of predictive, diagnostic and prognostic models using machine-learning applied to large-plex proteomics. 20 such tests were used for drug characterization, safety and efficacy when incorporated in clinical drug trials at Pharma/Biotech and 17 different multivariate tests were validated and translated into regulated healthcare uses. Prior to SomaLogic, Dr. Williams was at Pfizer in the UK and the USA as a clinical triallist in Translational Medicine, and subsequently as VP, Global Clinical Technology. He sat on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the Executive Committee for the FNIH Biomarkers Consortium, and worked with FDA and PhRMA on developing evidentiary standards for biomarker qualification. Dr. William’s medical training was in London, at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, followed by a PhD in medicine/physiology at the same institution and training in Radiology at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Steve is co-inventor on 26 proteomics patents and author/coauthor on multiple foundational proteomics manuscripts.

Justin McAnear

CFO

Mr. McAnear serves as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He brings over 25 years of operational and financial leadership experience across various sectors and was instrumental in taking 10x Genomics public in 2019, serving as its CFO for over five years. Mr. McAnear served for over 3 years as Tesla’s VP of Worldwide Finance and Operations, supporting landmark initiatives such as the Model X and Model 3 launches and Solar City acquisition. He also held various roles at Apple and J&J earlier in his career and served as a naval officer and aviator for over 9 years.