Profiling cerebrospinal fluid proteins in Alzheimer's disease

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2011-08

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, irreversible, neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 5 million people in USA alone and is expected to increase to 7 million by 2020. Currently, there are no drugs available that can halt or prevent the progression of this disease. This may be due to the complex nature of this disease with a number of proteins, mediators and factors involved or that there are some low abundance proteins not yet identified that may play a major role in the pathogenesis of AD. In this regard, with rapidly improving proteomics technologies it is possible to identify less abundant but potentially important functional molecules that may play an important role in the pathogenesis of AD. The objective of this study was to identify novel proteins expressed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of AD compared to age matched CSF samples from non-neurodegenerative cohorts. Using highly sensitive mass spectrometry techniques (MALDI-TOF/TOF), 260 protein spots from 18 AD and 14 control CSF samples were analyzed. Of the 141 proteins identified nine proteins were solely found in AD CSF but absent in the control CSF. Similarly eleven proteins identified in control CSF were not identified in AD CSF. Proteins identified include apolipoprotein E, cystatin C, orosomucoid, prostaglandin D2, enolase, and transthyretin. The results suggest that with proteomic profiling technology it will be possible to identify unique, low abundance proteins which may provide new insights into the pathogenesis of AD.

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