Defects in insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling is a key contributor to Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the mechanism of how IGF-1 signaling relates to AD remained unclear. Here, we investigated the association of IGF-1 signaling associated biomarkers with AD pathology, sTREM2, and GFAP. Finally, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2) was associated with AD pathology, and the association was partly medicated by sTREM2 (Aβ42, β= 0.794, p = 0.016; T-tau, β= 0.291, p < 0.001; P-tau181, β= 0.031, p < 0.001) and GFAP (T-tau, β= 0.427, p < 0.001; P-tau181, β= 0.044, p < 0.001). It suggested that sTREM2 and GFAP mediated the relationship between IGF-1 signaling and AD pathology.
Keywords: AD pathology; Alzheimer’s disease; GFAP; IGF-1 signaling; IGFBP-2; sTREM2.