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

Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 10:7:40263. doi: 10.1038/srep40263.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Alzheimer Disease / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • Alzheimer Disease / diagnosis*
  • Biomarkers / cerebrospinal fluid
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phosphorylation
  • ROC Curve
  • alpha-Synuclein / cerebrospinal fluid*
  • tau Proteins / cerebrospinal fluid

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • MAPT protein, human
  • alpha-Synuclein
  • tau Proteins