Back

How are APOE4, changes in body weight, and longevity related? Insights from a causal mediation analysis

Holmes, R.; Duan, H.; Bagley, O.; Wu, D.; Loika, Y.; Kulminski, A.; Yashin, A.; Arbeev, K.; Ukraintseva, S.

2024-01-02 pathology
10.1101/2023.12.27.23300485 medRxiv
Show abstract

The {varepsilon}4 allele of the APOE gene (APOE4) is known for its negative association with human longevity, however, the mechanism is unclear. APOE4 was also linked to changes in body weight, and the latter changes were associated with survival in some studies. Here we explore the role of aging changes in weight in the connection between APOE4 and longevity, using a Causal Mediation Analysis (CMA) approach to uncovering mechanisms of genetic associations. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, we tested a hypothesis, whether the association of APOE4 with reduced survival to age 85+ is mediated by key characteristics of age-trajectories of weight, such as age at reaching peak values, and slope of the decline in weight afterwards. Mediation effects were evaluated by the Total Effect (TE), Natural Indirect Effect, and Proportion Mediated. Controlled Direct Effect and Natural Direct Effect are also reported. The CMA results suggest that APOE4 carriers have 19%-22% (TE p=0.019-0.038) lower chances of surviving to age 85 and beyond in part because they reach peak values of weight at younger ages, and their weight declines faster afterwards, compared to non-carriers. This finding is in line with the idea that detrimental effect of APOE4 on longevity is in part related to accelerated physical aging of {varepsilon}4 carriers.

Matching journals

The top 8 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.