Fig. 5

Mediation and schematic representation. A The mediation analysis was explored between Aβ42 and ADAS11 annual change: Aβ42 → IL-3 → sTREM2 → p-tau/t-tau → ADAS11 change. P-values for mediation effects were calculated by a bootstrap test with 10,000 resampling iterations. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001. B Schematic representation of the effect of astrocyte–microglia communication on progression of AD pathogenesis. Aβ deposition is the initial step during the development of AD pathogenesis. As the compensative pathway, astrocytes can secrete IL-3 to activate microglia to secrete sTREM2, which leads to microglial activation to clear Aβ deposition. However, when their functions are not powerful enough to remove Aβ deposition, tau-related pathology and neuronal loss will occur, resulting in cognitive decline