近年来，美国海湾战争疾病（GWI）联盟及基础和临床研究人员的工作，使我们对GWI的病理基础以及该疾病的机制有了更好的了解。患有GWI的退伍军人中最令人担忧的症状之一是认知下降，包括与记忆功能相关的下降。这些下降不严重到达痴呆的标准，但有重要的担忧，即这些退伍军人的轻度认知障碍将随着年龄增长而发展为痴呆。最近使用人类脑器官样体以及大鼠模型进行的GWI研究表明，引起认知问题的一个潜在原因可能是脑中tau蛋白的水平升高，而患有GWI的退伍军人血液中的tau自身抗体水平的升高支持了这一观点。在这些退伍军人发展为痴呆之前，寻找治疗和预防策略至关紧迫，并且这样做具有附加价值，因为他们目前的状态可能代表许多神经退行性疾病共同的tau病理早期阶段。© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

The work of the Gulf War Illness (GWI) Consortium and that of basic and clinical researchers across the USA have resulted in a better understanding in recent years of the pathological basis of GWI, as well as of the mechanisms underlying the disorder. Among the most concerning symptoms suffered by veterans with GWI are cognitive decrements including those related to memory functioning. These decrements are not severe enough to meet dementia criteria, but there is significant concern that the mild cognitive impairment of these veterans will progress to dementia as they become older. Recent studies on GWI using human brain organoids as well as a rat model suggest that one potential cause of the cognitive problems may be elevated levels of tau in the brain, and this is supported by high levels of tau autoantibodies in the blood of veterans with GWI. There is urgency in finding treatments and preventive strategies for these veterans before they progress to dementia, with added value in doing so because their current status may represent an early phase of tauopathy common to many neurodegenerative diseases.© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.