Transcript Slide 1
COST CM1103 Training School
Structure-based drug design for diagnosis and treatment
of neurological diseases
Istanbul, 9-13 Sept 2013
Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s
disease
Mirjana Babić, mag.biol.mol.
Laboratory for Developmental Neuropathology
Croatian Institute for Brain Research
“Detection and tracking of biological markers for early
therapeutic intervention in sporadic Alzheimer's disease”
Project of the Croatian Science Foundation grant no. 09/16
from 1st Jan 2012 – 31st Dec 2014
Alzheimer's disease
• neurodegenerative disorder
• loss of memory and cognitive decline
• in 2050 - approximately 80 million people will suffer
from Alzheimer’s disease
Ideal marker for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
is not found yet!
Diagnosis of AD based on
criteria of:
• DSM-IV-TR
• NINCDS-ADRDA
• ICD 10
Characteristics of good marker:
• sensitivity and specificity above
85%
• availability
• non invasiveness
• acceptable price
• possibility for repetitive
measures
Aim of this project
• to determine the diagnostic accuracy of potentially
highly useful biological markers for discrimination among
subjects mild cognitive impairment (MCI), non-demented
HC, and patients with other primary causes of dementia
Neuropsychological testing
• Early detection of non-cognitive BPSD (behavioural and
psychological symptoms of dementia):
o NPI (Neuropsychiatric Inventory)
o ADAS-noncog (Alzheimer's disease Assessment Scale for non-cognitive
symptoms)
o BEHAVE-AD (behaviour rating scale)
• Additional testing of patients with the
risk of AD:
o Hidden-goal task (human analogue of
the Morris water maze task)
Laczo et al., 2009.
Imaging biomarkers
Earliest change in the
brain of AD patients is
atrophy of
hippocampus and
entorhinal cortex .
Blennow and Zetterberg, 2006.
Monitoring of disease progression by:
• MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging)
• MRS (Magnetic resonance spectroscopy)
• SPECT (Single photon emission computorized tomography)
Genetic biomarkers
• Gene expression profiling using
the RNA extracted from cells
precipitated in pellets of CSF
samples
• Familial AD caused by
mutations in:
1. APP (amyloid precursor protein)
2. PSEN1 (presenilin 1)
3. PSEN2 (presenilin 2)
• Sporadic AD
1. ε4 allele of the
apolipoprotein E gene
(APOE)
• Specific polymorphisms of genes
coding for components of:
1. serotonergic system
(5HT-2A, 5HT-1B, 5HT-2C)
2. dopaminergic system
(COMT, DBH, MAO-B)
3. inflammation pathways
(IL-1, IL-6, IL-10, IL-10, TNF)
4. neuronal development and
differentiation (BDNF)
5. lipoproteins’ metabolism (ApoE)
CSF biomarkers
• CSF amyloid β1-42, total tau and
phosphorylated tau are the
main reflect two major
neuropathological hallmarks of
AD - neurofibrillary tangles and
senile plaques.
Andreasson et al., 2007.
• T-tau
• Aβ1-42
300% increased in AD
patients
50% decreased AD
patients
• Phospho-tau reflects phosphorylation state of tau protein and
formation of neurofibrillary tangles in the brain
P-tau199
P-tau231
Novel CSF biomarkers
• VILIP-1, neuronal calcium-sensor protein
• VILIP-1/Aβ1-42 ratio
• sphingolipids
P-tau181
Standardization of procedures in CSF analysis
•
•
1.
2.
3.
Levels of CSF biomarkers vary among different laboratories.
The cause are variations in:
Pre-analytical procedures
analytical procedures
differences between ELISA kits of various manufacturers
• Ultimate goal of this project is to predict AD in
healthy, asymptomatic subjects
Acknowledgements
Thank you for your attention!
Please visit: http://alzbiotrack.hiim.hr/