APOE and Alzheimer disease: APOE, upregulated in astrocytes in AD (Supplementary File 3), also was among the highest ranked predictors of DEG in EC through its associations with expression of the cholesterol transport-mediated gene ABCA1 and RAC1. Similarly, VEGFA and TGFB1, also were strong potential regulators of EC DEG, and were downregulated in PVM with AD.