The diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by polysomnography (PSG) is challenging due to the required collaboration of the patients. In addition, screening questionnaires have demonstrated limited usefulness with this subpopulation. Considering this, we investigated the circulating microRNA (miRNA) profile associated with OSA in AD patients. This study included a carefully selected cohort of females with mild-moderate AD confirmed by biological evaluation (n = 29). The individuals were submitted to one-night PSG to diagnose OSA (apnea-hypopnea index ≥ 15/h) and the blood was collected in the following morning. The plasma miRNA profile was evaluated using RT-qPCR. The patients had a mean (SD) age of 75.8 (5.99) years old with a body mass index of 28.6 (3.83) kg m⁻². We observed a subset of 15 miRNAs differentially expressed between OSA and non-OSA patients, of which 10 were significantly correlated with the severity of OSA. Based on this, we built a prediction model that generated an AUC (95% CI) of 0.95 (0.88–1.00) including 5 of the differentially expressed miRNAs that correlated with OSA severity: miR-26a-5p, miR-30a-3p, miR-374a-5p, miR-377-3p, and miR-545-3p. Our preliminary results suggest a plasma miRNA signature associated with the presence of OSA in AD patients. Further studies will be necessary to validate these findings.

由于需要患者的协作，通过多导睡眠图（PSG）诊断阿尔茨海默氏病（AD）阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）具有挑战性。此外，筛选调查表已证明该亚群的有用性有限。考虑到这一点，我们调查了与AD患者OSA相关的循环microRNA（miRNA）谱。这项研究包括一组经过生物学评估确认为轻度中度AD的女性精心挑选的队列（n  = 29）。将这些个体接受一夜的PSG诊断OSA（呼吸暂停-呼吸不足指数≥15 / h），并在第二天早晨采集血液。使用RT-qPCR评估血浆miRNA谱。患者的平均（SD）年龄为75.8（5.99）岁，体重指数为28.6（3.83）kg m ^-2。我们观察到OSA和非OSA患者之间差异表达的15个miRNA的子集，其中10个与OSA的严重程度显着相关。基于此，我们建立了一个预测模型，其产生的AUC（95％CI）为0.95（0.88–1.00），其中包括与OSA严重性相关的5种差异表达的miRNA：miR-26a-5p，miR-30a-3p， miR-374a-5p，miR-377-3p和miR-545-3p。我们的初步结果表明与AD患者中OSA存在相关的血浆miRNA标志。为了验证这些发现，将需要进一步的研究。