| Title: | Assessment of the heart-brain-liver axis and its contribution to brain health |
| Lead Institution: | Capital Medical University |
| Principal investigator: |
Application 137528
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About
It is now well-established that many chronic diseases, for example, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, neurocognitive decline, and fatty liver disease tend to co-occur, suggesting potential involvement of multi-organ pathways. While there is extensive evidence that heart, brain, and liver disease outcomes are empirically linked, the underlying mechanisms are not well explored. Numerous studies have been conducted on the heart-brain-liver axis, with a predominant focus on proteomics or microstructure. We aim to explore a macroscopic medium to better understand these multi-organ interactions. Blood vessels connect the brain with other organs and transport neurohumoral mediators across the body. Normal structure and functioning of the vascular system are critical for maintaining the health of each organ. Therefore, we try to investigate the heart-brain-liver axis from the perspective of vascular health. Our objective is to discover imaging markers of the vascular system, enabling us to identify underlying mechanisms that can elucidate the interactions in the heart-brain-liver axis. UK Biobank provides multi-organ imaging (heart, brain, and liver) acquired and analyzed using standardized approaches of hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, thereby providing an ideal platform for the present study. Our project is expected to span approximately three years, during which we will focus on the post-processing of large-scale image data, statistical analysis, result analysis, and mechanism discussion from a substantial sample size. A better understanding of multi-organ interdependence is fundamental to population-level risk stratification and disease prevention since the detection of abnormalities in any of the three organs signals an opportunity for early intervention, which may alter the trajectory of disease progression. Insights from multi-system imaging are expected to have a significant impact on the future prevention of complex diseases and reliably improve quality of life and overall survival.1 Publication
| Pub ID | Title | Author(s) | Year | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17750 | Associations of white matter hyperintensity regression and progression with cognitive and structural brain changes: a population-based cohort study | Jiajia Zhang (+4) | 2026 | Alzheimer's Research & Therapy |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health