Abstract
BackgroundThere is a need to investigate biomarkers that are indicative of the progression of dementia in ethnic patient populations. The disparity of information in these populations has been the focus of many clinical and academic centers, including ours, to contribute to a higher success rate in clinical trials. In this study, we have investigated plasma biomarkers in amnestic mild cognitively impaired (aMCI) female patient cohorts in the context of ethnicity and cognitive status.MethodA panel of 12 biomarkers involved in the progression of brain pathology, inflammation, and cardiovascular disorders were investigated in female cohorts of African American, Hispanic, and White aMCI patients. Both biochemical and algorithmic analyses were applied to correlate biomarker levels measured during the early stages of the disease for each ethnicity.ResultsWe report elevated plasma Aβ40, Aβ42, YKL-40, and cystatin C levels in the Hispanic cohort at early aMCI status. In addition, elevated plasma Aβ40 levels were associated with the aMCI status in both White and African American patient cohorts by the decision tree algorithm. Eotaxin-1 levels, as determined by the decision tree algorithm and biochemically measured total tau levels, were associated with the aMCI status in the African American cohort.ConclusionsOverall, our data displayed novel differences in the plasma biomarkers of the aMCI female cohorts where the plasma levels of several biomarkers distinguished between each ethnicity at an early aMCI stage. Identification of these plasma biomarkers encourages new areas of investigation among aMCI ethnic populations, including larger patient cohorts and longitudinal study designs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13195-016-0211-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
There is a need to investigate biomarkers that are indicative of the progression of dementia in ethnic patient populations
Elevated plasma Aβ40 levels were associated with the amnestic mild cognitively impaired (aMCI) status in both White and African American patient cohorts by the decision tree algorithm
Overall, our data displayed novel differences in the plasma biomarkers of the aMCI female cohorts where the plasma levels of several biomarkers distinguished between each ethnicity at an early aMCI stage
Summary
There is a need to investigate biomarkers that are indicative of the progression of dementia in ethnic patient populations. We have investigated plasma biomarkers in amnestic mild cognitively impaired (aMCI) female patient cohorts in the context of ethnicity and cognitive status. The study of supplemental cardiovascular and inflammatory biomarkers may allow for an effective early diagnosis. This is especially relevant in ethnic populations, such as African American and Hispanic communities, Grewal et al Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (2016) 8:43 where the prevalence for vascular diseases associated with high blood pressure and diabetes are higher with no known genetic factors explaining the increased incidence [10, 11]. A multitude of studies have investigated inflammatory markers as potential biomarkers in AD progression [18–20]; the data obtained from studies measuring levels of cytokines, cytokine receptors, and other proteins associated with immune responses in blood and CSF of AD patients are inconsistent. As our understanding on the impact of sex or ethnicity in disease progression increases, so should our efforts to design longitudinal and crosssectional studies that extricate the progression of AD in well-controlled patient cohorts based on these parameters
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