Author Identifier
Eugene Hone
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6708-3718
Steve Pedrini
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-8022
Wei Ling Florence Lim
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8988-2147
Ralph Martins
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
BioMed Central Ltd
Faculty
Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science
School
Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care / School of Medical Sciences
RAS ID
19359
Funders
National Health and Medical Research Council
Grant Number
NHMRC Number : 1009292
Abstract
Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a growing socioeconomic problem worldwide. Early diagnosis and prevention of this devastating disease have become a research priority. Consequently, the identification of clinically significant and sensitive blood biomarkers for its early detection is very important. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a well-known and established genetic risk factor for late-onset AD; however, the impact of the protein level on AD risk is unclear. We assessed the utility of plasma ApoE protein as a potential biomarker of AD in the large, well-characterised Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Ageing (AIBL) cohort. Methods: Total plasma ApoE levels were measured at 18-month follow-up using a commercial bead-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: the Luminex xMAP human apolipoprotein kit. ApoE levels were then analysed between clinical classifications (healthy controls, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD) and correlated with the data available from the AIBL cohort, including but not limited to APOE genotype and cerebral amyloid burden. Results: A significant decrease in ApoE levels was found in the AD group compared with the healthy controls. These results validate previously published ApoE protein levels at baseline obtained using different methodology. ApoE protein levels were also significantly affected, depending on APOE genotypes, with ε2/ε2 having the highest protein levels and ε4/ε4 having the lowest. Plasma ApoE levels were significantly negatively correlated with cerebral amyloid burden as measured by neuroimaging. Conclusions: ApoE is decreased in individuals with AD compared with healthy controls at 18-month follow-up, and this trend is consistent with our results published at baseline. The influence of APOE genotype and sex on the protein levels are also explored. It is clear that ApoE is a strong player in the aetiology of this disease at both the protein and genetic levels. © 2015 Gupta et al.; licensee BioMed Central.
DOI
10.1186/s13195-015-0105-6
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Gupta, V. B., Wilson, A. C., Burnham, S., Hone, E., Pedrini, S., Laws, S. M., ... & Martins, R. N. (2015). Follow-up plasma apolipoprotein E levels in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) cohort. Alzheimer's research & therapy, 7(1), 16. Available here
The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made Available in this article, unless otherwise stated.