Abstract
Although Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, there are still no drugs available to treat or prevent AD effectively. Here, we examined changes in levels of selected proteins implicated in the pathogenesis of AD using plasma samples of control subjects and patients with cognition impairment. To precisely categorize the disease, fifty-six participants were examined with clinical cognitive tests, amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) scan, and white matter hyperintensities scored by magnetic resonance imaging. Plasma cathepsin D levels of the subjects were examined by immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Correlation of plasma cathepsin D levels with AD-related factors and clinical characteristics were examined by statistical analysis. By analyzing quantitative immunoblot and ELISA, we found that the plasma level of cathepsin D, a major lysosomal protease, was decreased in the group with amyloid plaque deposition at the brain compared to the control group. The level of plasma cathepsin D was negatively correlated with clinical dementia rating scale sum of boxes (CDR-SB) scores. In addition, our integrated multivariable logistic regression model suggests the high performance of plasma cathepsin D level for discriminating AD from non-AD. These results suggest that the plasma cathepsin D level could be developed as a diagnostic biomarker candidate for AD.
Highlights
Dementia is a group of symptoms associated with a gradual decline in memory and thinking abilities
We examined the relationship between plasma cathepsin D levels and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) scores, which were used as a deciding factor to group
We found that the level of plasma cathepsin D is associated with decreased level of plasma cathepsin D is associated with decreased cognitive abilities
Summary
Dementia is a group of symptoms associated with a gradual decline in memory and thinking abilities. Since dementia occurs more frequently in the aged group, increased life expectancy increases the prevalence of dementia, which will inevitably increase social costs. Various genetic and environmental factors are known to cause dementia. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia are the most common types of dementia. AD is characterized by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tau tangles in the brain, leading to synaptic dysfunction and neuronal loss [1,2]. Given that AD develops initially without obvious symptoms over several years, early diagnosis during the latent period is essential for treatment with a hopeful prognosis
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