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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Alzheimer's Research – Exploring Early Detection and Multi-Omics Approaches
Published on: December 15, 2023
An Artificial Intelligence-Driven Multimorbidity Framework Reveals a Shared Metabolic and Immune Core Across
Meghna R Iyer1, Benjamin Zhao1, Xin He1
1Laboratory for Pathology Dynamics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Abstract:
Background/Objectives: Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) share molecular features yet differ clinically, suggesting underlying systems-level commonalities. We aimed to characterize shared and disease-specific multimorbidity architectures across AD, ALS, and FTD using an artificial intelligence-driven literature-based semantic network. Methods: We applied SemNet 2.0, constructed from over 35 million PubMed abstracts, to analyze disease and syndrome (DSYN) and pharmacological substance (PHSU) nodes. Nodes were ranked using HeteSim and mapped to a harmonized 13-category mechanistic ontology. We quantified pairwise disease intersections, ontology-level enrichment, rank similarity, and intersection-disease alignment, and constructed an integrated multimorbidity priority landscape integrating disease-specific and intersection-level hierarchies. Results: Across AD, ALS, and FTD, a convergent multimorbidity architecture centered on a shared metabolic and immune core was identified, accompanied by prominent neurobehavioral processes and intermediate systems including gastrointestinal, endocrine, hematological, hepatic, and sensory pathways. Disease-specific signatures shaped distinct vulnerability profiles within this shared structure, including cardiovascular enrichment in AD, neuromuscular and toxin-related pathways in ALS, and coupled neurobehavioral-metabolic features in FTD. PHSU patterns reinforced these findings, with centrally positioned compounds predominantly targeting inflammatory, metabolic, or neuromodulatory processes. Conclusions: These findings position AD, ALS, and FTD within a unified, AI-derived multimorbidity framework. This ontology-guided approach provides a computational, hypothesis-generating foundation for multimorbidity-aware biomarker discovery, risk stratification, and cross-disease therapeutic exploration in neurodegenerative disease.
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