Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Cellular Aging Signatures in the Plasma Proteome Record Human Health and Disease
doi: 10.64898/2026.02.10.704909
Figure Lengend Snippet: Left: Heatmap displays gene expression levels from the Human Protein Atlas single-cell transcriptomic dataset (version 24.1) for signatures of horizontal cells, inhibitory neurons, and excitatory neurons. Color intensity represents expression level, with darker red indicating higher expression. Right: Model coefficients from cellular aging clocks for horizontal cells, inhibitory neurons, and excitatory neurons on SomaScan and Olink platforms. Color represents coefficient magnitude (purple: negative; green: positive); only signatures with an absolute coefficient greater than 0.2 are shown. Circles indicate proteins measured with SomaScan; plus signs indicate Olink coverage. The horizontal cell signature is dominated by NEFL (neurofilament light chain) and C1QL2 (complement C1q-like protein 2), both showing high expression in horizontal cells and strong absolute coefficients in aging models. NEFL is a widely recognized biomarker of axonal injury frequently elevated in FTD, while C1QL2 is a synaptic organizer known to be prominent in temporo-limbic structures vulnerable to fronto-temporal lobar degeneration. The distinct expression and coefficient patterns support renaming this signature to NEFL-C1QL2 projection neuron aging to better reflect its molecular architecture and neurological relevance.
Article Snippet: The Human Protein Atlas single-cell RNA-seq database was used to map the putative cell type-specific plasma proteome.
Techniques: Gene Expression, Single Cell, Expressing, Biomarker Discovery