Blood protein linked to lower vascular dementia risk
A genetic analysis linked higher blood levels of the protein to lower risk, and independent genetic datasets supported the association.
Mice, independent replication
Limit: Dementia prevention after raising SPARCL1 was not measured
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers analyzed human genetic data on blood proteins and vascular dementia risk using Mendelian randomization, an approach that uses genetic differences to examine disease links. They identified 33 proteins associated with risk. They compared these candidates with gene activity in cells lining brain blood vessels from young and aged mice.
The protein SPARCL1 emerged as a candidate: genetically predicted higher blood levels were linked to lower vascular dementia risk. Independent genetic datasets supported that association. In aged mice, cells lining brain blood vessels had lower activity of the gene for SPARCL1. Mouse cells with low SPARCL1 gene activity also had more inflammation-related gene activity. In post-mortem human brains, the researchers found lower SPARCL1 gene activity in blood-vessel lining cells from people with vascular dementia than in controls without dementia.
Why it matters
Vascular dementia progressively impairs thinking and is associated with aging. The authors proposed SPARCL1 as a potential target for addressing the disease through the cells lining brain blood vessels.
Caveats
Genetic associations and post-mortem comparisons cannot establish whether increasing this protein would prevent vascular dementia. The comparison of young and aged brain cells was in mice.
The paper
Zhejiang University
Experimental Gerontology, Jun 29, 2026, Open access
