In the total cohort, we show that the proteins associated with AD (ABL1, ENO2, ITGB2, SMOC2, and THOP1) together with MMP10 had the strongest correlations with MMSE scores (Rho’s between − 0.19 and − 0.34, all p < 0.001; Fig. 2D). This evidence concerns the gene SMOC2 and Alzheimer disease.