Inflammatory biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid helps detect AD

Using a panel of inflammatory proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can help with the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a recent study has found.

The study included 382 participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, of whom 97 were deemed to have AD (mean age 75.1±7.8 years, 58 percent men), 174 had mild cognitive impairment (MCI; mean age 75.2±7.6 years, 64 percent men), and 111 had normal cognition (NC; mean age 75.8±5.3 years, 51 percent men).

The researchers looked at levels of 15 CSF inflammatory proteins, including amyloid β, tau, tumour necrosis factors and receptors (TNFR), interleukins, vascular cell (VCAM) and intracellular (ICAM) adhesion molecules, and soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (sTREM).

Principal component analysis, performed independently within each participant subgroup, revealed six highly reproducible groups of biomarkers within each diagnostic category.

This array of biomarkers included t-tau, p-tau, and amyloid β42, as well as soluble(s) TNFR1, sTNFR2, sVCAM, tumour growth factor β1 and 2, various interleukin proteins, and different sTREM subtypes.

Moreover, participants with MCI and NC shared two additional families of biomarkers, composed primarily of interleukins 9, 21, and 12-p40, sICAM1, and the interferon gamma-induced protein 10.

“The inflammatory alterations we identified potentially reflect microglial phenotype evolution along the AD disease continuum, and autopsy- or positron emission tomography-based analysis of people in early AD stages is necessary to confirm this,” the researchers said.