Decreased Levels of Serum IL-34 Associated with Cognitive Impairment in Vascular Dementia

Objective. Interleukin- (IL-) 34 is a new type of cytokine with neuroprotective effects discovered in recent years. However, the relationship between IL-34 and vascular dementia (VaD) has not yet been elucidated. The purpose of this study is to determine whether IL-34 is involved in cognitive impairment of VaD. Methods. From January 2017 to December 2020, 84 VaD patients and 60 healthy controls who attended Qingpu Branch of Zhongshan Hospital were prospectively included in the study. Once included in the study, demographic features of all research subjects are collected. They include age, gender, education, white blood cells (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides (TG), and total cholesterol (TC). Meanwhile, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale was used to assess the cognitive function of participants. The serum IL-34 level was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results. There was no significant difference between the demographic features of VaD patients and healthy controls (p>0.05). However, the serum IL-34 levels of VaD patients and healthy controls are 27.6±3.9 pg/ml and 41.8±6.0 pg/ml, respectively, and there is a significant statistical difference between them (p