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IC‐P‐011: A peripheral diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease with 100% specificity and 94% sensitivity in preliminary testing
Author(s) -
Coleman Paul D.,
Mastroeni Diego,
Grover Andrew,
Rogers Joseph
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2009.05.031
Subject(s) - buffy coat , medicine , gold standard (test) , pathology , autopsy , disease , dementia , peripheral blood , staining , medical diagnosis , immunology
Background: Presently, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can only be diagnosed with certainty at autopsy. Although imaging methods are beginning to approach this standard, they are expensive and, for some methods, invasive. We have therefore attempted to develop a simple, safe, inexpensive, and highly accurate peripheral blood diagnostic for AD. We have previously observed a significant hypomethylation of DNA in AD cortex. Because this change was so dramatic, and because it extended to both neurons and glia, we speculated that similar alterations might also occur in peripheral leukocytes. Methods: Venous blood samples were taken from 17 living AD and 19 living ND subjects. Diagnoses were based on standard NIA AD Center criteria. Under thorougly blinded conditions, leukocytes were isolated from the buffy coat, immunoreacted with antibodies to 5methylcytosine, 5-methylcytidine, DOC1, or HDAC1, and evaluated qualitatively as ‘‘substantial staining’’ or ‘‘sparse staining’’. Results: Based on obvious staining patterns (e.g., sparse immunoreactivity for DOC1 in AD cases and substantial immunoreactivity in ND cases), AD was correctly diagnosed in 16/17 cases (94% sensitivity) and ND was correctly diagnosed in 19/19 cases (100% specificity). Conclusions: Additional subjects are needed to confirm these results. Perhaps more important, they also need to be extended to MCI and non-AD dementias using quantitative rather than qualitative methods. Such research is now ongoing. IC-P-013 THE AIBL STUDY: BASELINE DATA FROM A MULTICENTER, PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AGEING IN 1,100 VOLUNTEERS Cassandra Szoeke, Kathryn A. Ellis, Ashley Bush, David Darby, Daniela De Fazio, Jonathan Foster, Peter Hudson, Nicola Lautenschlager, Nat Lenzo, Ralph Martins, Paul Maruff, Colin Masters, Andrew Milner, Kerryn Pike, Christopher Rowe, Greg Savage, Kevin Taddei, Victor Villemagne, Michael Woodward, David J. Ames, CSIRO, Parkville, Australia; University of Melbourne, Kew, Australia; Mental Health Research Institute and Centre for Neurosciences, Melbourne, Australia; CogState Ltd, Parkville, Australia; Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia; Neurosciences Australia, Parkville, Australia; Austin Health, Heidelberg, Australia; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Australia. Contact e-mail: Cassandra.Szoeke@csiro.au