Blood immune response genes are correlated with brain glucose metabolism

Imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) have been fundamental to develop our understanding about Alzheimer's disease (AD) underlying features. Evidence suggests that neuroinflammation plays a complex role in the pathophysiology of AD. Nevertheless, whether peripheral inflammation affects brain function remains to be defined. In this context, the integration of blood‐based measures and imaging modalities can facilitate the understanding of the periphery‐brain interface in AD. Here, we developed a method to integrate immune response‐related genes, derived from blood transcriptomics, with [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG)‐PET imaging data. We hypothesized that the differential expression of immune‐related genes would be associated with brain metabolism as indexed by [18F]FDG‐PET signal.