Herpes Simplex Virus 2 Serology Is Associated with Thinner Whole-brain Cortex in Community-dwelling Older Adults
Jackson Roberts1, Mitchell Elkind2, Minghua Liu2, Clinton Wright3, Tatjana Rundek4, Jose Gutierrez2
1Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, 2Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 3NINDS, 4Department of Neurology, Miller School of Medicine
Objective:
The primary purpose of this study was to identify the association between common infectious disease exposures and radiographic features of brain aging in a community-dwelling sample of older adults.
Background:
The contribution of lifetime infectious disease exposures to risk of dementia and brain has re-emerged as an area of interest in recent years. Prior work in the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS) identified impaired cognition in cross-sectional analyses and more rapid memory decline in individuals with evidence of prior common infectious disease exposures.
Design/Methods:
In this study, we sought to determine the cross-sectional relationship between prior exposure to cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Helicobacter pylori and three magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signatures (whole-brain cortical thickness, a previously validated AD signature, and hippocampal volume) in 455 NOMAS participants who were without evidence of dementia at time of enrollment. We performed confounder-adjusted linear regression analyses between neuroimaging scores and both continuous serologies and categorical seropositivity of each pathogen, as well as a combined infectious burden index (IBI).
Results:
We identified that increased serologic titers of herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) were associated with reduced whole-brain cortical thickness across fully-adjusted models, and a combined score of HSV-2 and C. pneumoniae displayed an additive effect on reduced cortical thickness.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest herpes simplex virus 2 seropositivity may contribute to accelerated brain aging, possibly resulting in an increased vulnerability to cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disease in aging populations.