Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42736449›Full record

ArticleNature aging2026

A microprotein atlas of the human frontal cortex in Alzheimer's disease.

Brendan Miller, Eduardo Vieira de Souza, Calvin Lau, Joan M Vaughan, Victor J Pai, Servando Giraldez, Andréa Rocha, Jolene K Diedrich, Clodagh C O'Shea, David A Bennett and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature aging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Brendan MillerClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA. brmiller@salk.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7461-7973
Eduardo Vieira de SouzaClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2773-8550
Calvin LauClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Joan M VaughanClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Victor J PaiClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Servando GiraldezMolecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9543-9347
Andréa RochaClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Jolene K DiedrichDepartment of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9044-980X
Clodagh C O'SheaMolecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
David A BennettRush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
Alan SaghatelianClayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA. asaghatelian@salk.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0427-563X

Funding

The Discovery of Human Peptide Encoding GenesR01GM102491 · NIGMS · SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES · PI O'SHEA, CLODAGH, SAGHATELIAN, ALAN · 2012 to 2025
$5.5M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM102491U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) R01GM102491
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding the molecular basis of neurodegeneration requires a comprehensive map of the genome's protein-coding output. Although thousands of small open reading frames (ORFs) are translated in the human brain, proteomic evidence for their encoded microproteins (MPs) (≤150 amino acids (aa)) remains limited. Here, we present a brain MP atlas that integrates transcriptomics, mass spectrometry and deep-learning-predicted spectra across more than 600 postmortem frontal cortex samples with and without Alzheimer's disease (AD). We identified 1,067 MPs absent from reviewed UniProtKB entries with high-confidence spectral support. A subset is differentially expressed in AD independently of the annotated main ORF at the same locus. A small ORF expressed by MKKS encodes a 63-amino-acid MP that is the locus's predominant translation product and is downregulated in AD; its loss impairs microglial mitochondrial respiration, implicating it in microglial bioenergetics. This atlas expands the annotated brain proteome and provides a resource for studying MPs in aging and neurodegeneration.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseFrontal LobeProteomeHumansMass SpectrometryMicropeptidesOpen Reading FramesProteomicsMicropeptidesProteome

Identifiers

PMID42736449
PMCPMC13577902

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.