Increased levels of CSF total but not oligomeric or phosphorylated forms of alpha-synuclein in patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease

Nour K. Majbour, Davide Chiasserini, Nishant N. Vaikath, Paolo Eusebi, Takahiko Tokuda, Wilma Van De Berg, Lucilla Parnetti, Paolo Calabresi, Omar M.A. El-Agnaf

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38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Several studies reported an association between CSF alpha-synuclein (α-syn) and tau in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and demonstrated the significance of α-syn in improving the diagnostic sensitivity/specificity of classical AD CSF biomarkers. In the current study, we measured CSF levels of different α-syn species in a cohort of AD patients (n = 225) who showed a CSF profile typical of AD at baseline as well as in cognitively intact controls (n = 68). CSF total α-syn (t-α-syn) significantly increased in the AD group (p < 0.0001) compared to controls, while oligomeric- and phosphorylated-Ser129-α-syn did not change significantly. ROC analysis showed a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 84% (AUC = 0.88) in distinguishing AD from controls. T-α-syn levels correlated positively with tau species in AD group and negatively with baseline MMSE score. Our data support the added value of measurement of CSF α-syn species for further characterization of the CSF AD profile.

Original languageEnglish
Article number40263
JournalScientific reports
Volume7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2017

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