Some Notes on Visinin-Like Protein 1 and Alzheimer Disease

Abstract

We wish to comment and add some potentially useful information on certain aspects of the report of Lee and collaborators, which was recently published in Clinical Chemistry (1). In an earlier study, the authors had proposed visinin-like protein 1 [VILIP-11 or VSNL1; VSNL1 gene (visinin-like 1)] as a potential biomarker for stroke because they had detected this intracellular calcium-binding protein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in a rat model of stroke and in the plasma of patients after stroke (2). The group extended these findings to Alzheimer disease (AD) in a second publication (1). VILIP-1 concentrations were significantly altered in the CSF of AD patients; hence, the authors concluded that VILIP-1 might also be a useful novel biomarker for AD-related brain injury. Lee et al. put forward the hypothesis that measures of VILIP-1 might reflect neuronal injury with subsequent release of the intracellular protein VILIP-1 into the CSF. The authors stated that both Aβ …