Inflammatory proteins in plasma are associated with severity of Alzheimer's disease

PLoS One. 2013 Jun 10;8(6):e64971. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064971. Print 2013.

Abstract

Markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are being widely sought with a number of studies suggesting blood measures of inflammatory proteins as putative biomarkers. Here we report findings from a panel of 27 cytokines and related proteins in over 350 subjects with AD, subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and elderly normal controls where we also have measures of longitudinal change in cognition and baseline neuroimaging measures of atrophy. In this study, we identify five inflammatory proteins associated with evidence of atrophy on MR imaging data particularly in whole brain, ventricular and entorhinal cortex measures. In addition, we observed six analytes that showed significant change (over a period of one year) in people with fast cognitive decline compared to those with intermediate and slow decline. One of these (IL-10) was also associated with brain atrophy in AD. In conclusion, IL-10 was associated with both clinical and imaging evidence of severity of disease and might therefore have potential to act as biomarker of disease progression.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Alzheimer Disease / blood
  • Alzheimer Disease / complications
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Atrophy / blood
  • Atrophy / etiology
  • Atrophy / pathology*
  • Biomarkers / blood*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cognition Disorders / blood
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology
  • Cognition Disorders / pathology*
  • Cohort Studies
  • Cytokines / metabolism*
  • Disease Progression
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Humans
  • Inflammation Mediators / blood*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Prognosis
  • Severity of Illness Index

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Cytokines
  • Inflammation Mediators