SMOC1 and neurodegenerative disease: Increased SMOC1 expression is only reported in other neurodegenerative diseases when Aβ is present (e.g., Lewy Body Dementia) and correlates to Aβ pathology load rather than cognitive decline in AD [63, 64, 94, 117, 118, 127], suggesting that the SMOC1 increase is linked specifically to Aβ rather than AD pathogenesis more broadly.